Never Tied Down
by Ametsukihane
Summary: Sonic wants to stop Amy from chasing him all the time, so he enlists the help of Shadow to pretend to be his boyfriend. Needless to say, it kinda back fires... and let's not forget there's also a new enemy in town whose stronger than Eggman! -Discontinued
1. Reach The Goal!

_New and Improved! I decided that I wasn't doing my best, and replanned this story out to try and make it more enjoyable for you guys. So here is the better version of chapter one. Yeah, I know a lot of it is the same, but there is a little more added and edited. I'm working on the other chapters like majorly too so I can try and get them up as soon as possible!_

_I know POV's change around a lot; I meant it to be that way. Sorry if it gets confusing..._

_Anyway, here we go! Thanks you guys for so many reviews, and for baring with me for being so new! _

_And as always, read and review or leave me constructive criticism. _

_Now on to **Chapter One: Reach the Goal!**_

_

* * *

_

It started with pleading and rapid pounding on the door.

"H-Hey! Let me in! I need a place tah hide! Come on Shadow! Please! I'm beggin' yah!"

And in the middle of his shower too.

Grumbling about being disturbed, said ebony hedgehog walked out of his bathroom and swung open the door roughly to stop the source of the banging. And there was Sonic, his fists paused in mid pounding, and fear written all over his face.

Shadow regarded him for a moment with a cold stare, before cocking an eyebrow as Sonic's look and posture remained unchanged. "Hide from what?" He finally asked. Despite how he hated admitting it, he was actually curious.

"SONIC! WHERE ARE YOU!" Came the cry that answered, echoing off the building and clawing at his ears. Shadow's eye ticked.

"That!" Sonic whipped around to look for the source of the sound, letting out a panicked squeak. Shadow followed his gaze, seeing the pink hedgehog at the same time Sonic did. Shadow didn't think he'd ever seen Sonic grow so pale or for his quills to become so bristled. "GAH! Let me in Shads! Before she gets me!"

Sonic fell to his knees and held his paws up in a praying like manner. His desperation, which Shadow thought was fake since he had never seen Sonic mind Amy's antics so much before, was almost funny. Shadow listened to Amy call for the blue hedgehog again, before sighing heavily and stepping aside. A tacit signal that Sonic could come in. And the cry of relief and the rush of wind that rattled his quills confirmed that Sonic really had been that desperate.

And in all honesty, the last person Shadow would expect to be in his house was his rival. Shadow also didn't expect for himself to be in a semi-tolerable enough mood to allow his counterpart the refuge. Then again, though impartial to his rival, he would not wish anyone the fate that Sonic had with that infuriating pink hog. So perhaps, it really wasn't extraordinarily surprising that he let the other in.

The door slammed shut behind Sonic as he whirled over to the nearest window. It was comical how he crouched and peeked over the sill with his shoulders tense. Shadow rolled his eyes and moved to finish drying his fur from the shower he had been taking, tossing it in the hamper and pulling on his fresh clean gloves as well. When he turned back to the hedgehog, he had to think the coast was clear, since Sonic was standing now and facing him with a lazy smile on his face.

"Thanks for letting me hide in here! That was way past cool!"

Shadow's eye twitched as Sonic gave him the trademark thumbs up. How moronic. "Good, now leave."

The cost was clear, and though Shadow was no longer Sonic's sworn enemy he was still a rival. He took pity and offered shelter for the annoying blue whirlwind against that even more annoying pink hurricane, but had not invited Sonic in for a chat and tea.

It went unheard though. Sonic had sat down on Shadow's couch, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and rested his arms behind his head.

Shadow's eye twitched with more force. "I said out!"

Instead of complying, Sonic simple opened one of his green eyes. Shadow watched them take in his bare abode with very badly hidden interest, his glare increasing ten fold.

"Man. Don't you feel gloomy in a place so bare?" Leave it to Sonic to become completely distracted and annoying. "… and cramped?"

The obvious look of Sonic's disgust in Shadow's tastes was both unnecessary and infuriating to the black hedgehog. Shadow crossed his arms defiantly, the red orbs in his eyes smoldering like hot coals. "I like it this way."

"Ugh… well you need some serious renovations, buddy!"

_Buddy! _Come to think of it, hadn't Sonic called him _Shads _too? Since when were they friends! Red eyes glared daggers at twinkling emerald ones. He was pretty sure Sonic was just trying to rile him up though. After all, he was always challenging his rival to races and fights, so he never surprised Shadow when he tried to rile him up. Shadow closed his eyes and calmed, allowing the fire to burn away in his chest and keep his brain thinking clearly.

Something Sonic should really work on, by the way.

Let's see. Amy had to have some inner Sonic tracking device. She could find him anywhere, which was alarming. "You should leave before she come's knocking," Shadow finally decided to reply with. He seriously doubted that Amy wouldn't think to check in his place the longer Sonic stayed.

Sonic's tension came back almost immediately at the mention of her knocking on the door to find him. Shadow could spot his quills bristling a second time.

"I need to get her to stop chasing me once and for all!" The statement was followed by Sonic glancing back at the window above his head fretfully. Shadow could almost imagine him biting his nails in his apprehension.

Sonic took longer to think and stall, than to move. Shadow felt his temper getting the best of him and slowly rising as Sonic continued to stare fitfully at the window. Then he sighed heavily and crossed his arms, realizing that unless he said something, he would have to shove Sonic out of here. Which would turn into a brawl, and since Rouge had so nicely given this place to him, Shadow thought it would be best not to invoke her rage and avoid the predictable destruction.

"Say you're taken. Get a pretend girlfriend." There. That was a good plan. Now Sonic could work on it far away from his house. "Now get out!"

Sonic snapped his head down at Shadow now, but had yet to move his feet, much to Shadow's dismay. "Yeah!" And now Shadow could practically see the gears turning in his little blue brain now. "Though… it has a good chance of becoming a battle royale, so I might have to try a different tactic."

The black hedgehog felt dread creeping up his spine as Sonic scratched his chin and observed the ceiling. When he snapped his fingers and smiled like a fool, Shadow realized with a sinking feeling that the light bulb he instinctually knew he wouldn't like had went off. "I know! I'll say you're my boyfriend! That'll work!"

"WHA-!" Shadow's arms dropped as he choked and spluttered suddenly, red eyes wide and staring at Sonic as though he had three heads. He couldn't even tell if he was angry or embarrassed, or if he even wanted to yell. It was such an idiotic statement that he found himself choked into silence with shock.

"Yah need to get out more anyway, Shads! It'll be good for you! So, I say that we go over the deets tomorrow at the park!"

Shadow could not believe this at all. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, while Sonic jut remained grinning away. At least until his eyes widened and he punched his open palm. "Oh yeah! I promised Tails I'd meet up with him!"

"Gotta run!" Sonic finally announced as he rolled on to his feet. He checked the windows for the coast to still be clear, gave Shadow a wink and then in the blink of an eye the door had slammed shut and Sonic was gone.

And all Shadow could think to say was, "Don't call me Shad's!"

* * *

"I asked Shadow to pretend to be my boyfriend."

It was so nonchalant that Tails almost thought it was a joke. When the word's meaning finally sunk in past the wires he was working on, Tails jerked up so hard he slammed his head against the metal. Still, shock kept him moving despite the ache in his head now. "What? Why?"

Sonic's green eyes had flashed with worry, but upon seeing his buddy alright, he was now smiling and playing with his apple again, leaning on Tails' desk with one leg bent behind the other. Completely relaxed. "To get Amy to stop chasing me of course!"

Tails wasn't sure he knew how to feel about that. He knew his friend Amy really cared about Sonic, so this kind of scheme really didn't strike him as good. In fact, he had a pretty good feeling this plan would fail… horribly.

Sonic must of taken Tails' odd look and silence as a need to talk. "I need to get her to realize I don't like her that way."

Dead panning, Tails now sighed. "Why don't you just tell her?" Why go through the trouble of a weird scheme?

"I think she has selective hearing," the blue hedgehog retorted.

Tails watched him bite into his apple for a minute. Sonic was a stubborn character, he knew. He could tell that Sonic was not interested in fighting him, and that what he said was final by the way the speedster closed his eyes and looked away now. It was kind of like how he worked on his machines, Tails would get the idea in his head to better the Tornado, and nothing would ever stop it.

He just wished the conversation had stayed on finding Chaos Emeralds…

"Why do you need my help?" The fox finally asked. After all, Sonic usually worked alone despite having so many friends, and considering the plan would work better with the advantage of no one knowing it, it was obvious Sonic wasn't just telling him to make conversations.

"I need tah convince Shadow to help me, so I need some supersonic brainstormin'!"

"He didn't even say yes?" Tails could have face-palmed.

"Not _yet!" _Sonic corrected, giving his little buddy a wink.

Tails just stared at his big brother figure. Then he sighed in defeat and put his tools down, shutting the compartment of the Tornado. He had wanted to finish making the Tornado faster, one of the many modifications that he had planned, but Tails supposed it would have to wait until tomorrow now.

His brain raked through possible solutions, scratching his chin as he brought his toolbox over to the table Sonic was leaning on. He barely noticed his hero staring at him with silent curiosity, the apple forgotten in his paw.

Suddenly an idea came to him. He gasped before looking up at Sonic. "I got it!" Now the fox jogged further into his workshop and Sonic followed eagerly. "The last time you were caught by Eggman's, I found a fantastic Super Nova Model 1275 EX in one of the rooms when I went in to help you. I hacked into the mainframe easily and found-"

"You stopped to look at a fancy computer while I was caught?" Sonic had leaned on the back of Tails' chair, and was now looking down at the fox with a cocked eyebrow.

"Heh… can't help myself sometimes." Tails shrugged it off and continued on bringing up the files that contained what he was looking for. "I found these files on it. Considering the circumstances, I figured I should download them."

Sonic's dismay seemed to make him even more impatient than usual. "And…?"

"Well. These files are all open, which means Eggman probably already hacked them." Tails moved his mouse over, and the next set of files prompted immediately for a passkey. "These aren't open though. This means Eggman hasn't hacked them, and that they are still intact."

The blue speedster got it immediately. "Oh." For a moment, there was silence, before he grinned wildly. "Tails! You're way past cool, bud!"

Tails hardly had time to grow bashful before Sonic grabbed his bud's hand and turned quickly for the door. "Wah! Wha- Sonic?"

His fur bristled in some alarm as he was practically dragged out his workshop door, before his tails remembered to spin quickly. Sonic let his paw go once Tails was steadily keeping up with the speedsters easy pace.

"We gotta go tell Shads the _good news." _Sonic replied mockingly.

"R-right now?" Tails didn't understand the hurry. When he saw that excited glint in Sonic's eye though, he knew his response would only be the dust from Sonic's sudden burst in speed. So Tails just resigned himself to his fate and did his best to spin his tails faster and keep up with his idol.

* * *

A full twelve hours from when Sonic had told them they could meet, Shadow arrived at the park. He was standing with his back leaning on a tree, covered in dying leaves and surrounded by yellowing grass. He closed his eyes and ignored the sound of children playing, just feeling the wind on his fur and doing his damn best to keep his anger in check. He had every intention of telling the blue hedgehog the idea was ridiculous and planned to beat him up for even offering it, and didn't want the kids being on the receiving end if Sonic was too late to receive the full frontal assault of his anger.

It really was a stupid idea. They were arch enemies, not lovers. Like hell Shadow would ever go out with the faker, and like hell anyone would believe their sudden change of heart. Especially Amy!

Yet, when, Sonic came charging up with Tails in tow, he spoke again before Shadow could even start. "Tails knows about the plan! He's gonna help!"

"Y-yeah," Tails quickly added.

Shadow glared burning lasers at the two of them. It was satisfying to see the fox flinch under his gaze. "I will not be part of this scheme! It's what I came here to tell you! Find someone else to be your gay lover!"

"Aw Shads…" Sonic's pout did nothing for him. "Come on! Just long enough to keep her from grabbin' me all th' time!"

"Absolutely not!" Honestly, the black hedgehog did not care for the other's predicament. Amy could chase him all the way to Timbuktu and back, and he still wouldn't care. "Use you're butt buddy fox if you have too, but I am not doing this."

Everyone seemed to ignore Tail's mortified spluttering, which Shadow couldn't help but inwardly smirk at. Sonic looked lost, which Shadow rather liked, and interperting that as the sign the argument was over and he had won, Shadow turned to start walking purposefully away.

He misjudged Sonic's level of stupid. "… I'll make it worth you're while."

With dismay, Shadow's ears caught Sonic's words and brought him up short. Damn, that blue hedgehog knew exactly how to invoke his curiosity, and he hated how Sonic knew it, judging by the obvious sly note in Sonic's voice. Once again, despite knowing better, he gave Sonic the little victory, and glanced over his shoulder distastefully at the other hedgehog. _What can he possible think is affordable payment for this?_

Sonic rubbed his nose and smirked, probably smug about Shadow reluctant questioning glance. Shadow seriously wanted to punch him for it.

"I'll help yah get the lost files from Colony ARK."

Oh! Sonic had him by the quills now!

It was so obvious by the shocked look on Shadow's face. Actually, he was sure there was more under that icy exterior Shadow put on, but he was so good at masking his emotions that Sonic only saw shock. Like Shadow his curiosity was spiked, but unlike Shadow it was all the time. Sonic could never figure out what Shadow was thinking, and that made him more frightening than Eggman could ever try to be.

"I'll get them myself."

Ah. There was that rage Sonic also knew. It was obvious that Shadow hated the idea of lost files of his past being anywhere but in his possession. Honestly, Sonic couldn't blame him, for he was the kind of guy that liked privacy too.

Well, except when it could be used to his advantage.

"Nah, ah, ah~!" He wagged his finger at Shadow, smug about the other's scowl that it earned him. "Only Tails an' I know where it is!"

Silence stretched across the park, while a ruffle of wind fluttered the grass between the three characters. Sonic could see Shadow's rage ever increasing inside crimson eyes, and Sonic tried to increase his smirk to match it. Green orbs challenged the black hedghog while the silence stretched, and the speedster tried to ignore Tails' fur starting to fluff out in alarm beside him. Not even the passing leaf that tumbled in the wind between the line of fire was able to stop the staring match between the two hedgehogs.

Finally Shadow blinked and looked away first. "Hmph. Didn't think blackmail was your style, Faker."

Sonic watched Shadow cross his arms. He had lost this battle, and Sonic could imagine Shadow was not very happy about it. "Well, I'm desperate," he replied casually. The blue hedgehog watched his little buddy relax beside him once the signs of impending doom dissipated into a cloud of smoke, and gave him a wink. Everything was ok, just like he promised it would be.

On to business. "So! Let's go over the details of our agreement!" Sonic grinned as he walked over to his sour double. He stilled when he realized there were no footsteps following him though, and glanced back at Tails with a little questioning look. Seeing the other look so uncertain of Shadow was a little unsettling. After all, it's not like Shadow was a vampire about to suck his blood or anything. Besides, if Shadow decided to fight, Sonic would step in long before Tails got in the middle of the fray, so he had nothing to worry about with him around.

"Come on Tails!" He motioned for his buddy to come with him when Tails lingered for a bit too long. He smile came back when Tails reluctantly jogged to catch up with his hero and join the two of them.

The fox gave Shadow an uncomfortable stare when he got closer, and Sonic turned to meet the glowering rage of the hedgehog full on. It was so blood thirsty, he even had the weird notion to step in front of Tails and shield him from it.

No wonder the little kit was so uninterested in joining them.

Like always, Sonic didn't stay shocked about anything for too long. "Ah! Probably wonderin' why Tails is in on it? Well, Amy likes to contact him a lot to find out where I am, so…!"

He trailed off when Shadow's glower continued to impale him. Guess he misread Shadow's anger as being directed at Sonic for letting other people know about his plan.

In all honesty, Sonic had no idea where the plan had come from or if it would even work. Nothing was for certain until it was tried though, and Sonic would be damned if he didn't at least put this unorthodox plan into action. Besides, the look on Knuckles' face would be well worth any other result that came from this.

Knuckles wouldn't be let in to the plan because he wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch (this coming from another dim bulb), and he would probably be the first to believe it knowing how gullible he was.

Tails had said earlier it would work in Sonic's favor to have him believe; Sonic just thought it would be the best prank ever.

"I resent everything about this," Shadow finally growled.

"Aw lighten up! It won't be that bad to get out of that gloomy basement you call a house will it?"

Sonic almost laughed at the look Shadow gave him as he started walking. He always felt better with his legs moving, and just like his legs he was about to keep his plan moving too. He rested his hands behind his head lazily and listened to the foot steps of his double eventually joining him and Tails in his steady pace.

Tails didn't seem all that relaxed like Sonic was. With Shadow sending out waves of pure hate at the hedgehog for holding such a valuable thing over his head, Sonic could see why. Unfortunately for Shadow, Sonic found this just as fun as riling up said red echidna.

Of course, he wasn't evil or cold hearted, and Sonic did feel guilty for how he was going about this. He never held regrets though! Sonic wasn't about to give up just because Shadow was being a sore loser and his morals now that he had it started.

"Y-you're going to have to hold hands…," the fox suddenly mumbled, breaking Sonic from his thoughts. "… p-probably have to be… seen out in the public too." And Sonic noticed that his normally confident about his plans little buddy wasn't all that confident. In fact Tails was nervously playing with his fur and addressing mostly him.

He decided that his buddy probably needed some rescuing.

"So, we'll go on a 'date'" Sonic made air quotes here, "get a few pictures taken of us, and then we tell Amy in person. Then we'll break it off, break the law, and get those files. Piece of cake!" Optimistic as usual, Sonic grinned and gave a thumbs up to the gloomy Shadow beside him.

Tails face palmed, while Shadow continued to glare death at the ground and the blue hedgehogs back without answering. "I doubt it will be that easy…" Sonic heard his buddy mumble. The speedster just shrugged. He could just wing it if problems came up, like he always did.

Armed with an outline of what they would be doing, Sonic was now convinced that no other conversation about his plan was needed. He had other secret agendas too. Like how he was serious about getting Shadow out of his little gloomy house. Ever since the ARK incident, where he had been depressed and grouchy, Sonic had figured he would have come to terms with whatever it was that made him so… moody.

After being found again, Sonic realized Shadow was the same, and he refused to believe that anyone could be so… dank on the inside. Being the hero that he was, Sonic wanted to try and see if there was anything he could do to help him. Shadow might even just be shy? Who knew? Introducing him to his friends, like Tails, couldn't hurt!

It can't possibly be healthy for him to be scowling all the time.

"Now that the boring part is taken care of, I challenge you to a race Shads!" Sonic announced suddenly. He smirked as his mind started turning faster than his feet. He knew what always cheered him up, and since Shadow and Sonic were so alike in a few ways, he had to think it would work for his double too.

He could see that anger in the other hedgehogs eyes become a burning determination. Shadow was probably begging to take out his anger at his helpless situation. Not only was his idea genius, but he didn't even really think about how running would help. Sonic guessed he was even more genius then he first thought he was!

Seeing Shadow was intrigued, Sonic jerked into motion, taking off in a long line of blue and swaying the grass around the area with the wind he caused. Shadow and Tails were left staring in some shock, before Shadow growled and took off after him in an orange streak.

Tails called after his hero, but was left standing with his hand stretched out and a worried look on his face. "B-but… we weren't finished yet…."


	2. Wanna See Stars?

_I dislike OC's unless they are made extremely well. Raven is an OC not made well, which is why she is the bad guy so I can kill her off if I want! Heh…_

_Anyway, read and review please! They feed my soul, and without them, you would never have been able to get Chapter Two: Wanna See Stars? _

_Same goes with chapter three you know~_

_

* * *

_

This was highly annoying.

He was fast, but in all reality he was more powerful than he was agile. In this race, if Sonic took the lead he was determined to stay in it, and he could do. Shadow had this feeling that the blue speedster was actually playing with him with the way he would match his speed, give a cocky little joke, and then take off running foreword again before Shadow could make a grab at him, leaving Shadow to try and skate faster to catch up with him.

He was driven by his rage at Sonic for holding the lost files of ARK above his head, and his need to have them left him helpless in this situation where he found himself dating the blue speedsters for his own stupid gain. This race was not about who would win, but with how long it would take Shadow to catch the stupid blue hedgehog now. He didn't even really know where they were going, or what Sonic determined was the end of the race, he just knew that he wanted to wrap his gloved hands around the blue hedgehogs neck and strangle him.

The only thing that alerted him that they had been running for hours was when the light began to change in the blurred landscape around them, and he slowed down. His anger began to dissipate after so much expulsion of energy, and he began to realize that Sonic had taken him to a forest. His red eyes scanned the turquoise colored foliage with more interest, wondering where exactly he was now. He never remembered traveling here before.

Which made him wonder when Sonic had found this place… or if the hedgehog found it be accident in his rush to get away from Shadow's clutches. No, that couldn't be it. Judging by how Sonic expertly launched himself from tree to tree when the forest floor dropped below them, Shadow knew Sonic had explored this forest before.

Shadow followed him easily, watched Sonic drop down on to a vine and grind all the way back to the bottom. Then hop off to land on a leaf and use the strength in his legs and the momentum of the leaf bouncing around to launch himself into the air again. "YAHOOO!"

Shadow dead-panned at the sight, but followed after the hedgehog with ease. Really, Shadow never understood Sonic's fascination with such displays of speed. He did have to admit though, nothing got his adrenaline pumping harder than when he was flying through a forest, staring at the black below him, and thinking quickly to find something to stop his fall before he hit the ground.

Sonic grabbed another vine and used it to wrap around a tree and swing him around to the next large sea green leaf. Shadow followed his example, landing only seconds after him. And realized that he was actually seeing the fun in this, which made him a little frustrated. After all, he was supposed to be angry at the hedgehog, not have fun chasing him through a forest.

Finally Sonic dropped down to the ground below, grabbing a tree to help his descent and not crash violently. Shadow followed and hit the spongy earth with both his shoes a few feet away from the hedgehog. Sonic barely looked winded, and his emerald eyes were shimmering with delight as he trotted over to Shadow.

"Fun, eh!"

The black hedgehog noticed those emerald green eyes were searching for something from him. He cocked an eyebrow before glancing away from him. "Hmph."

Was it his imagination that those emerald green eyes darkened with disappointment?

The blue hedgehog turned and Shadow noticed that his shoulders had seemed to sag a little. Those emeralds eyes had become unfocused with thought. Suddenly he snapped his fingers and he turned to Shadow with a smirk again, the light coming back to those emerald eyes. "You still haven't won you know!" And then the hedgehog was off in a blue streak once again.

Shadow was forced to follow, not because he was angry though, and not even because he was competitive. Now it was more because he was interested in the reactions the blue hedgehog had. Now his curiosity in what was going on through Sonic's head helped him to keep pace with the other as again Sonic lead him through the forest at high speed.

This time they stood close to the ground, and Sonic lead them through twists and turns around trees and bushes, and some hops around branches that were sticking up high enough to trip them, which wouldn't be a pretty result when they were going at this speed. All of them were easy maneuvers, and much too calm for what Shadow knew of Sonic the Hedgehog, so he predicted this was just the beginning.

And he was right. The blue speedster suddenly slipped to the right and Shadow had to almost come to a complete stop to make the tight turn and follow. He was heading towards a swampy area, one that looked like it if he stepped in it, he would sink into his thighs. The trees thinned out, and the earth under Shadow's shoes got spongy and wet. His red eyes noticed that there wasn't much to run on ahead, except fallen tree trunks, but they looked so decayed that they would shatter at the lightest touch.

He was right not to say anything though. Sonic propelled himself foreword using his speed and powerful legs. Shadow hadn't even seen the mushroom until Sonic landed on it. It glowed a bright green as soon as Sonic's sneakers touched it, and it jiggled with the impact. Spores exploded in little clouds in the air as Sonic glanced up and gave Shadow a smirk. Shadow watched him jump to the next mushroom, leaving a trail of glowing platforms and clouds of spores.

"Tsk."

It was easy. Shadow jumped to the first mushroom as soon as Sonic left the first. Then he followed the trail. The mushrooms were surprisingly strong, and even though one almost tipped enough to throw him off, generally they only vibrated at his landing. Shadow didn't think mushrooms could get big enough to carry his weight, and they were actually quite pretty for things known to be products of decomposition.

He lost sight of Sonic, but he continued to follow the trail. One final leap a few moments later and he was back on solid ground. Now when he looked back he saw the mushrooms, both disturbed and undisturbed; the many paths he could take through the swamp. The trees too, looked a lot more alive than he previously thought.

He was beginning to realize that Sonic didn't want to race, but to show him this place. He began to walk where he saw some of the underbrush had been disturbed. Shadow was actually interested, and curious, about what Sonic would be showing him next too. A part of him wondered if that could be right, because this was not normally what supposed rivals did. And Shadow was certainly positive that he was only pretending to date him.

Friends would do this though.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice he had walked into a clearing full of grass. Before he knew what was happening gloved hands covered his eyes and immediately he felt his quills bristle and his shoulders tense.

"Hey Shads! Wanna see stars?"

Shadow was beginning to think he was completely wrong. Sonic had brought him here to fight. He snarled and his body tensed, muscles rippling under the fur of his arms as he jerked to grab the faker and roll him over his back. He could win in a fight with brute strength, because he was much more powerful than the blue idiot.

He was too slow _again_. The world came back to focus as Sonic lifted his paws from Shadow's eyes, and red orbs shot to the blue hedgehog just before he disappeared in a blue line. Right into the grass.

Then little lights filled the air like stars fill the night sky.

Shadow's glare disappeared as he watched the fireflies angrily take flight from Sonic's disturbance. Thousands of them. He couldn't believe so many of them could live in just one area!

They did look like stars, but in a strange way they mixed and reminded him of snow too. Shadow uncrossed his arms and held up his hand as one of the fireflies landed on his glove. The lights blurred against the dark grass, and they surrounded and churned around Shadow slowly like he had been turned upside down in a snow globe. Shadow found himself staring at the one firefly while his heart seemed to feel full with the beauty of the their light all around him. Shadow did not believe in magic, but that was what the air suddenly felt full of.

They were much better than stars.

He had been right too, Sonic had wanted to show this to him from the very start of their race. Shadow doubted Sonic had any intention of racing him even before the words left the hedgehogs mouth some time ago. Knowing this, whether it was right or not, made Shadow feel a little grateful to the blue hedgehog. Which served to frustrate him a little more.

Speaking of Sonic, he had returned to Shadow now. He walked up and reached out a finger to let the firefly on Shadow's paw crawl on to his own. Shadow startled at the sudden intrusion of his slight trance, but only watched with some amazement as Sonic's emerald eyes reflected the flashing lights of the fireflies around them, and how a warm smile softened the features on his face while he gazed down at the insect flapping it's wings on his finger.

It was not an expression one got to see often on the normally cocky hero.

The firefly finally took to the sky, joining the other lights all around them. Sonic watched it go before turning those bright and hopeful emerald gems over to his doppelganger again. "Pretty huh?"

Shadow knew what Sonic was looking for. Now he knew that what he had seen earlier had not been a trick of the light. Sonic was aiming to get something out of Shadow. He also knew what it was too. And as odd as it might be, Shadow didn't mind giving it to the other either. Today had been odd, with a lot of victories going to Sonic; only difference between him being roped into a horrible scheme and this, was that Shadow actually didn't mind giving Sonic what he was looking for.

He closed his eyes and relaxed, allowing a small smile of his own to grace his face. When he turned to Sonic, it was almost comical to see the other hedgehogs absolute shock.

Smiles weren't expressions one got to see on his face very often either.

"They are."

* * *

Like it wasn't obvious.

The base was hiding in an expanse of grassy hills, a long oblong metal shape that had basic shielding mechanisms for the radars of the normal population and the G.U.N agents that were out looking for him. He was a genius notorious for his wretched schemes and his attempts at world domination that were always thwarted by a certain blue speedster. So of course his radar was geared towards blue hedgehogs and mediocre machinery.

Not robots that were stronger than his own.

Her name is Raven. Black hair framed her face while her cold violet eyes lay locked on the screen before her. Green reflected off her glasses and her lab coat, giving everything an eerie glow inside the cockpit of her newest invention.

Her radar was made to see though the metal walls of Eggman's base. She could see the traps he had set for anyone who were to get too close to the base, and she could also sense and see the powerful energy signal of a chaos emerald hidden deep within the basement. That was probably the core of his base.

Her genius far surpassed this. "Not even a challenge!" Her walking cheetah robot suddenly exploded in a rocket powered run, and she opened fire.

No trap was enough to stop her, especially when she could see it before it happened. Eggman retaliated as expected, but her robot was much too advanced for what he had planned. Bullets reigned from the cheetah's shoulders and demolished the robots that rolled on the ground to combat her, and rockets exploded from the cheetah's mouth and collided with the rocket missile launchers. A compartment on the cheetah's back opened up and released metal seeking missiles, colliding with the remaining battle robots and the bases wall.

It only took moments before Eggman was overpowered and out of ammo. The metal oblong base she assaulted with hundreds of bullets and missiles until it exploded in a violent gush of fire and hot air. The fire and smoke swept by her cheetah robot harmlessly, and when it cleared it left a scene of a robot massacre.

The whole battle had only lasted minutes.

Raven slipped out of her cheetah robot and landed with a heavy thud, suffocating one of the struggling flames as she landed on it. "Now to find that Chaos Emerald."

She didn't care that Eggman was in his egg mobile and watching her. When she sensed him approaching she glanced up at him and laughed at his ash stricken face, and at the little bundle of flames at the end of his mustache. "Escaped I see~"

She was not Sonic, and she had proven that with only one robot she could demolish the once thought greatest threat to the human population. It was not surprising she did not get witty banter in return. "Who are you?"

Raven thought about it answering for a moment, but decided against it. "All you need to know is that you lost," she replied before turning back to the broken base.

Maybe she was being too cocky. Suddenly the energy reading changed, and she whipped around to see Eggman holding the Chaos Emerald in his greasy hands. "If you're looking for this, you'd be a fool to think I would just leave it for someone to pick off!"

How foolish of him to reveal he had it. Even more so for laughing and trying to escape with his slow egg mobile!

Raven growled and quickly raced back to her robot faster than that bucket of bolts could ever hope to fly. "Oh no you don't!" She slammed the cock pit shut, and then quickly put in a sequence of numbers and letters to enter flight mode. The yellow cheetah began to change, hydraulics hissing and metal clanking as it became a dragon. Rockets exploded from it's wings and back legs, and with it's streamline shape it was in the air and going so fast it caused a sonic boom on take off.

Eggman's mobile was no match. The dragon opened it's metal mouth and swallowed him whole while the earth below was still recovering from the violent gush of air caused by her robots take off.

Raven activated coast mode and her camouflage so G.U.N would not think she was an enemy air craft. No need to reveal herself to the public yet, not until she had at least three more emeralds. Which, probably wouldn't take that long at all.

Raven left the controls and slipped into the next metal u-shaped hall, heading into the prison of cell of her robot. Her robot was her base away from base, with a simple prison cell, a cock pit, a charger stations for the robots that came with her and repaired the ship from damage as she flew, and perhaps a little bathroom and kitchen for her own comfort needs.

The prison was in the belly area. Raven found Eggman there with his broken craft. He had lost hold of the emerald while he was dropped into the circle shaped cell and it was now securely settled into a little holding compartment on the other side of the room. Standing by it was her assistant, a metal raven creature.

The cell used powerful lasers as it's bars that burned, and Eggman must have been smart enough not to touch them for he was not burned anymore than what the explosion of his base had caused. He also had no other tricks, so he was just sitting with defiance snarling out through his little black glasses. She laughed at this, finding it absolutely ridiculous.

It was almost like he was pouting.

"Did you really think you could defeat me, you obese fool!" She cackled as she stared down at her victim. Her violet eyes were cold like ice, staring down the defiant glare given to her without even blinking.

It was obvious now that she had superior power and a far greater understanding of machines. Not only had she invaded his territory first and went in shooting, but she had also rendered his pathetic escape attempt futile.

"Honestly, did you think you could ever stand a chance?" Raven cackled like her name sake as she walked over to the controls situated around her prison. His silence only amused her. With humiliation and defeat staring him in the face, Raven doubted there was anything he _could _say.

"Tell you what, I'll let you go." Her amusement suddenly became a cold smirk. "Just so I can defeat you again."

She pressed a button, and the platform below Eggman opened up. Suddenly he was dropping though the air towards the earth below, with his egg-mobile following right behind him. The metal closed a second later, and Raven felt satisfaction running through every nerve in her body at the idea of destroying such an insult to her genius.

Raven turned from the prison now and walked over to the dark gray cylinder. It had seven snuggly spots for each emerald, and each contained a little path that allowed the energy to run through into a special designed chamber seep inside her robots core. It was designed not only to control that, but to use it to power her machine, and lock the compartment once it was shut. Not only was it inconspicuous to the average eye, but it was also virtually unable to open without the password once shut.

Just the way she liked it!

"Soon Salt, I'll have all seven, and then I'll have the key to completing what Gerald had started!"

The robot called Salt beeped in agreement.

Raven turned and smiled kindly to her ever faithful servant. "You go rest. You did a good job nabbing that emerald from that nasty man. When you wake, will you repair the left wing?"

Salt beeped enthusiastically before rolling away. The metal hall that lead to the robots pod near the back of the ship was soon hidden by the hiss of the door closing again.

Raven watched it go with a fondness in her eyes. After all, Salt had been her first creation, and therefore her best. Salt inspired every other machine she ever built. Right now though, not even her love of Salt could distract her from the wonders of a chaos emerald. It's power glittered and bounced off her glasses as she stared down at it in wonder.

_Oh Shadow… soon we will both be happy again._


	3. Double Date Almost

_Ugh... I hate it when my action scenes come out badly. Oh well._

_Here is **Chapter Three: Double Date... Almost.**_

_As always, read and review please!**  
**_

_

* * *

_

"So, I'll see yah tomorrow, kay?"

Shadow glanced back at the blue hedgehog giving him a warm smile. He paused with his paw on the door handle for a moment, finding himself still unused to the friendly smile the hedgehog was giving him. Smirks were natural, cocky grins were his trademark, but the soft smile that was normally reserved for his close friend Tails?

"Fine." Confused, and still angry with himself for not remaining angry at the hedgehog, his answer was short and curt. He turned and disappeared inside after, not caring to look at the blue hedgehog anymore that night. It was really quite disturbing that those secret files of his past wasn't fueling him while he was out having… dear he say it? _Fun _with the other hedgehog.

"Well, you're home late~"

Shadow had been so unfocused, staring into his dark house without really seeing, that he nearly jumped in alarm when a voice seemed to leak out of the darkness. Of course, he recognized it within moments, and the only evidence that he had been surprised was a quick bristling of his quills before they relaxed again. Now he closed his eyes and started walking further into his home, turning on the light as he did.

"Hello, Rouge."

"Ever so cheerful, Shadow."

The bat was resting high on his bookshelf, with her legs crossed and leaning back on her hands. Her blue eyes were watching with that usual lust infused calculating gaze. Funny how Shadow always seemed immune to such a gaze. Then again, he had always been relentless in getting the job done when he was working with the bat, so perhaps he had been accustomed to her subconsciously long before he actually noticed them.

"What do you want?"

"Oh! Is that any way to speak to you're visitor!" Rouge hoped down and put on a fake look of being wounded. "Whatever happened to hospitality?"

"It disappeared when I wanted to go to bed," Shadow growled. He threw off his gloves, keeping the rings on his wrist, and collapsed down on the couch. "Let's make this quick."

Rouge was quiet a moment, before her curiosity seemed to reach a peak that she couldn't quite contain. She was supposed to report that Eggman's base had been destroyed and a chaos emerald stolen, and she wondered if that was Shadow. Or if Shadow knew who could also be powerful enough to attack Eggman, win, and still be invisible. However, Shadow was a creature of habit, and being out this late at night wasn't in his routine at all. Not unless he couldn't sleep or was on a mission.

Was it wrong that Rouge knew Shadow's schedule almost to a T?

"So what were doing out so late anyway? You've never been one to engage in the night life before." She sat down in front of him on the table, crossed her legs once more, and waited expectantly for an answer.

Shadow was silent for a long moment, before he decided that it was only fair. Sonic had an accomplice, so therefore Shadow should have one too. Besides, it wouldn't be long before the bat figured out herself anyway. She was crafty, and sometimes highly annoying, in that way. "Sonic blackmailed me into his scheme of pretending to be his boyfriend so that infuriating pink thing will stop chasing him."

The room was quiet for a total of about five seconds. Enough for a pin dropping to sound like a herd of elephants stomping through a room. Then she burst into laughter. "B-boyfriend!" Rouge slapped a hand over her face and practically fell to the floor.

Shadow's eye twitched as he watched her, successfully irritated. "_Pretend _boyfriend," he scornfully corrected.

It took a long while, and it drew out Shadow's patient, for Rouge to calm down enough for make coherent words again. "Why'd you agree?" This was much better than trying to figure out who had destroyed Eggman's base.

"He possess the knowledge of files hidden from me, from my past." Now Shadow's eyes burned with the relentless desire to obtain them. He clenched his fists, dropping his eyes to the couch now. "I had no choice."

Except maybe now he did. Shadow suddenly looked up, piercing Rouge with a look that she would only describe as hopeful. Even though it looked more like a threat. "Unless you can find them?" He knew she was a spy, and therefore she had the means to finding such information.

Shadow was met with silence for a moment. Her amusement had died, since she had read those files and knew Shadow's past. It was probably the only reason the two of them shared such a kinship to each other.

_Shadow, you're so hung on up with what happened, that you're not seeing what's happening now. _Rouge felt a pang of guilt. She knew where the files were, in fact she could walk in there and be out in minutes with them. She wasn't going to get them though, because she didn't think Shadow needed them. Perhaps whatever Sonic's plan was, it would be good for Shadow. Let's face it, she never hung out with Sonic, or was great friends with him, but from what she heard from Knuckles maybe a hyperactive, spontaneous, and challenging bit of company was just what Shadow needed.

"Can't help you. Eggman stole those files from G.U.N's headquarters a long while ago. Whatever Sonic has, he must have stole from Eggman."

Shadow's fire intensified, to the point that he looked ready to strangle something. Rouge felt some pity for the other hedgehog. It must be torture for him to know those precious files were in someone else's hands. She could hardly stand anyone looking at her stolen jewels, let alone holding them.

"Where is Eggman then! I will get them myself!" Shadow suddenly burst from the couch, quills bristled, fists clenched, and the readiness to fight evident in every muscle that twitched and rippled eagerly under his fur.

"Oh. About that. His base was destroyed six hours ago; I mean _completely _obliterated, and the chaos emerald we know he had has vanished." Rouge looked upset, probably more about the emerald missing than the new threat though. "I meant to ask you if you knew anything about that."

His renewed determination went out like a flame that was rained on. "No…" He collapsed back to the couch and let his anger fester at his helpless situation once again. He hated being helpless. it was the feeling he felt when he looked into those beautiful blue eyes and watched the life drain from them.

_Maria…_

Rouge watched Shadow become the hurt hedgehog that only she knew he was. Rouge felt happy he trusted her enough to see this, but at the same time she wished he would not have to feel as though he needed that wall up to protect himself from the world. After all, she cared about him, and wanted to see him happy, not tortured with a past he could do nothing about now.

Well she came for her answer, and now she was faced with another mission. A more personal one. "Let's go on a double date!"

The words took a moment to register in the black hedgehogs mind. When he looked up, those red eyes were clear from his past again. "What?"

"Get you're blue hedgie to come with you to Club Rouge, and I'll bring Knuckles." Rouge winked to him playfully. "If you wanna look authentic, what better way then to go on a date with another couple hmm?"

Shadow cocked an eyebrow at the bat now. "You're not looking to help Sonic, are you?"

"No way! I just wanna see Knux's face when you show up with Sonic on your arm!" Rouge started laughing again at the idea.

Shadow did not know Knuckles really, but he had been on the receiving end of his bat friends rants about him. Enough to know the echidna's reaction would be pretty amusing. Considering Sonic was Knuckles' friend as well, he doubted the blue hedgehog would object to getting to see the same sight Rouge was thrilled for. "We already had something planned for tomorrow, anyway. I'll tell him how the plans changed."

"Good! Nine o' clock sharp, and don't you forget it." Rouge snickered and got to her feet now. "Which means I have an echidna I have to go bother."

Shadow followed her example and began walking her to his door. His mood had seemed to improve quite a bit now. He opened the door and watched his friend flap her wings in preparation for flight.

Suddenly something she had said made it's self obvious to him. Enough to strike Shadow's curiosity. "I will keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. It might be a lead for your case."

She turned enough to give him a wink of gratitude, before her velvet wings took her into the sky. Shadow watched her go before closing the door and glancing towards his phone. He would definitely need to contact Sonic now, and not just because of the "date."

A stranger destroying Eggman and stealing chaos emeralds seemed like a thing the blue hedgehog would be interested to know.

* * *

"It has to be down there!"

"Alright bud! Take us down!"

Tails could hardly hear Sonic over the roar of the Tornado's engine. Good thing his ears were extra sensitive. He shifted the controls and started an easy descent towards the ground below. It was grassy area, thankfully. There were spots of dense trees here and there like little forests, but there was also plenty of open ground for the Tornado to land.

It only took a few moments with Tails' expertise. Soon he had jumped down from the plane with a little tracking device in his paws, walking around and trying to find a baring on the signal.

Sonic began to tap his foot impatiently as the annoying beeping of the machine filled the air, followed by Tails' interested _hmm_'s. Eventually it became too much to bare. "Come on Tails! I'm not getting' any younger yah know!"

"Ah-ha! This way!" Tail pointed off into the distance. "Probably about four miles or so!"

"Sweet! Let's go!"

The wind rippled around the fox as Sonic blasted past him. Tails blinked before his brain made the connection that Sonic had already raced ahead of him. "Gah!" His tails rapidly began to spin and he whirled around to chase after his idol across landscape. Sonic wasn't going at his complete fastest, and thankfully Tails was used to trying to always catch the hedgehog before he built the plane, so his tails had the endurance and the power to help him keep the steady pace beside his hero.

"Turn here!" Tails instructed when the energy reading on the screen indicated which direction the power was coming from. It pulsated like a radar, and the little dot in the middle was definitely the chaos emerald. The amount of invisible energy radiating off it was enough to make the little tracker in Tail's paws malfunction like he was standing next to the sun during a solar flare.

Well, would have malfunctioned if he hadn't built it with a chaos emerald as it's battery.

They slipped into a mini forest of trees. Tails had to slow down to swerve and miss branches now. He was not used to running around, so his reaction time was better suited for one who was in the air, not traveling fast on the ground. It wasn't long before he lost the blue hero in the trees.

He thought he would know where to go by glancing down at the device, but suddenly the energy signal had disappeared. "Wha! Where did it go!" Tails was so preoccupied by this mystery that he missed an upturned root, and was sent tumbling right out of the forest and into a grassy field where the emerald was supposed to be.

Worriedly he picked himself up, glad to see the tracking device had only suffered minor damage from his fall. Then he looked around him and found a perfect answer for the mystery. There was bumblebee looking robot hovering above the grassy area, whipping the wind about with it's blades that swung like a helicopter to keep it a float. It's stinger was glowing red, and it had missiles and lasers pointed right at the blue hedgehog who was standing in front of him.

"Eggman…" Sonic growled.

Something seemed odd about the bee though. Firstly, it was much too animal looking for it to be like Eggman's robots. Secondly, Tails could not see into the glass shielding the cockpit. Eggman usually gloated about a victory by now, and never hid himself when a battle was about to commence. In fact, he introduced his new inventions, not remained silent like a fly on the wall.

"No. Not Eggman."

The words triggered tension. Tails had received the call from Shadow about the new enemy news and the embarrassing double date plans, and of course didn't hesitate to tell Sonic all of it when the blue hedgehog finally made himself reachable. Now they were facing the uncomfortable idea that they were facing someone who was stronger than Eggman.

Granted, Sonic never generally had much challenge with the Eggster in the first place. Still, the fact that this enemy was new urged for some caution on how Sonic planned how to attack. Or, at least Tails wished it would be that way.

"Alright, that Chaos Emeralds ours!" Sonic smirked and closed his eyes, cocky as usual.

"Sonic… I don't think-"

"So, are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

The response was the firing of a laser from the bee's stinger. It spread out wide, the color of deep red, and Tails barely muttered a 'whoa' before it was crashing towards them. Grass burned up underneath the shock wave, and Sonic double timed to dodge the blast, grabbing Tails by the arm as he did.

They both glanced at the path of destruction the laser caused, the ground charred and cracking like it had sucked all the moisture from it. "Packs a lot of heat…" Tails muttered as Sonic's eyes twinkled with absolute delight.

"Alright then. Don't say I didn't warn yah!" Sonic shifted for a second to face Tails. "stay out of the line of fire, kay bud."

Tails trusted Sonic, enough to think he knew what he was doing. His way of saying 'stay low, I can take this and I don't want you to get hit' could be taken badly, but Tails knew better. He just had a bad feeling that Sonic was going to need more help than even he himself could provide. That laser didn't look like the kind Eggman would create, barely packing a punch. Sonic took those on no problem.

These kind of weaponry looked like it was designed to kill. There was no thrill in the battle for this enemy, and it didn't sound like it would be drawn out with long narratives and maniacal laughter either. This was a whole other ball game.

Sonic voice broke Tails' thoughts. "Heh! Bring it on buzz ball!" And he really couldn't help but cringe. Buzz ball? _Really? _Sometimes Sonic was worse than Eggman.

Sonic tried to spin dash it, and the bot disappeared like Shadow would use chaos control. It shot at him with missiles that were similar to Eggman's. The blue speedster managed to avoid them easily, and then used his speed to maneuver quickly around the smaller laser blasts. He tried another attack, but he barely dented the machine's metal coating.

Tails resisted the urge to shout look for a weakness, remembering Sonic's warning. Besides, Sonic would already know that. Tails didn't want to sit idle, no matter what Sonic said though. He turned to his hand held radar and began messing with the settings at the top. The chaos emerald was in that robot, so maybe he could use his radar to find out where. Sonic could absorb it's energy if he got close enough, which would give him a great advantage!

Sonic tried spin dashes and homing attacks on almost every inch of the bot, and Tails found it unsettling that no laughter and cocky banter was being spouted. Not even from his idol. Obviously this bumblebot was a lot tougher than it looked.

And why couldn't Tails get a single reading on his stupid radar!

The grunt of Sonic in pain brought Tails to an abrupt halt. He glanced up and felt his heart and blood turn to ice when he saw Sonic trapped in the bees two of six legs. He noticed too late the blue glowing compartment that was supposed to resemble the pollen pouches on an actual bumblebee. It didn't take long for him to know what they were full of though, and suddenly Sonic was crying out while electricity flickered through his razor sharp quills.

When the bee dropped him, he hit the ground like a limp piece of spaghetti.

Tails didn't have much time now. Quickly he spun his tails and dashed towards the fallen hedgehog. He saw the red glow of the laser charging, and in a desperate launch grabbed his hero and dragged him away just before the laser shattered the ground where he had been laying. Fear helped Tails drag Sonic away and into the coverage of another batch of trees, where he lay the blue hog down comfortably.

He turned to watch the robot, weary of needing to move again. That's when he realized he had left the radar device and the chaos emerald when he had rushed to save Sonic. Anger and guilt burned inside of him as the bee grabbed that with one of it's six legs before taking off in a burst of speed that send some trees swaying.

They had lost both emeralds now, and in total that meant this new villain had three of them. That meant nothing good.

Tails couldn't focus on his failure for too long though, not with Sonic injured behind him. He turned to his hero, quickly looking over some of the burn marks the electricity had caused on his fur.

Thankfully he was breathing alright, and none of the wounds seemed too serious. The electricity had knocked him out, but otherwise he was alright. "I have to get you back to the shop and patched up."

Tails grabbed Sonic the only way he knew how, and used his spinning tails to help half drag / half float his limp buddy back to the tornado.

* * *

"Sorry Shadow…" Rouge looked at her angry date before turning back to the glaring hedgehog. She put her hands on her hips and sighed dramatically. "He can't wait any longer. He's worse than a girl sometimes."

"What'd you say!"

Rouge ignored her boyfriends angry sputtering, and instead offered Shadow a kind smile. "We'll reschedule. How does that sound?"

Shadow couldn't find himself the effort to care. "Hmph."

Rouge looked on worriedly for a moment, before deciding that was the end of it, and she started walking back to her boyfriend.

Everyone was a little frustrated. Rouge had dressed up pretty nicely in some hip fashion and new jewelry she had freshly stolen, had to pretty much drag Knuckles from the island while promising the G.U.N agents placed there would do fine protecting his Master Emerald; Knuckles was sick of waiting around for a person he was convinced stood Shadow up and wanted something to eat already.

Shadow was angry because he was stood up by a hedgehog who thought the date idea up, and had started this stupid scheme of being pretend lovers in the first place.

He clenched his fists and started walking in the opposite direction. At least Knuckles and Rouge could enjoy their night still. Now Shadow was angry and alone. He knew he felt hurt by this betrayal somewhere, how could he not? Sonic said he was going to be here, so he should have been here. It came out in anger, setting his stomach a flame. The urge to find and punch the crap out of him was so great, that he almost chaos controlled there after the clock struck 10:45.

Rouge calmed him though. Somehow.

Shadow found himself back at his little apartment now, and he walked in to the darkness that surrounded him. He was used to being alone and betrayed, unfortunately. Really, it was the only feelings the world ever offered him. It killed his Maria, it sealed him away, and now his pretend boyfriend decided to stand him up. It was no wonder he wanted to just stay in his dark and gloomy house and never come out again. At least the darkness was always there when he needed it, and so far it had yet to betray him.

No, he kind of left it alone and betrayed it from time to time.

He sighed and began to step further into his house, reaching for the light. He turned it on and nearly gasped when he saw a strange robot was standing in the middle of the room. Immediately his quills bristled and he clenched his fists, preparing for a battle. Practically aching for it thanks to the sour note his night had.

"Hello Shadow." The robot turned to him with it's red eyes glowing. It didn't make a threatening move, and with a mixture of relief and compiling frustration Shadow began to relax.

"I am not interested in battle. I come bearing an invitation to join my master." The robot, oddly shaped like a raven, stepped foreword and left a disk on the table it had been standing by. "I urge you to watch this."

"How do you know my name?" Shadow demanded, glaring at the disk with narrowed eyes.

"All answers on disk. I urge you to watch this." The metallic voice was cold and commanding. No doubt it had been programmed not to take no for an answer.

Shadow was silent a moment, before he walked over and picked up the little black disk. Curiosity had won over once again.

"You have forty eight hours to respond."

"What!"

Instead of an answer though, Shadow had to shield his eyes as a flash of bright light erupted from the robot. He realized quite immediately that it had chaos controlled, and he blinked the spots out of his eyes before looking down at the disk in his paws with bewilderment.

_Just what exactly am I responding too?_


	4. The Path's Laid Out

**Chapter Four: The Path's Laid Out**

* * *

Shadow slipped the disk into the DVD player, and then sat down on the table in front of it, crossing his arms and waiting for the black screen of the TV to light up with pictures. It was the face of a woman, with thick classes and long black hair who ended up looking back at him. Shadow cocked an eyebrow as she adjusted the screen, thinking all the while that she looked vaguely familiar somehow.

"Hello, Shadow. It's been such a long while. Maybe fifty years or so?" The woman laughed, a cold maniacal thing that made Shadow's shoulders tense. Enough to hurt his back, since he had already tensed with suspicion when she called him by his name.

"My name is Raven." The woman stopped smiling and adjusted her glasses now. "I was a young scientist on the Space Colony ARK. I'm sure you remember it? And I'm sure you remember the horrible events that took place there as well?"

She asked a question like he was supposed to answer. Shadow was much too busy being shocked by Raven's similarities in his own history to really noticed the rather silly tone.

"I was never close to Dr. Robotnik, so we never saw much of each other. In fact, I knew nothing of you until we were both captured and he told me of his plans for you. He was truly a genius! Someone I will forever be looking up to. As you know though, this is not why I'm contacting you.

It's because I loved that man, and surely I thought his plan was fool proof, however I was wrong. It was then I realized that every single thing he taught and told me, was to prepare me in being the back up plan in case such a failure did occur."

Raven shifted enough on the screen to show Shadow the three chaos emeralds in the container behind her. Shocked further, his eyes widened and he shot to his feet like a spring. "How-!" Of course, he cut himself off when he realized this was a recorded message. Flushing slightly, he collapsed back on the table, watching now with much more interest than before.

"This is why I need you to help me collect the chaos emeralds." Raven continued in her message. "I'll send Salt to collect a chaos emerald or you're decline in two days time. If you do decide to find me a chaos emerald, which I know someone of your caliber should be able to find effortlessly; I will give you more details about my plan for you, I, and the remaining three chaos emeralds."

She moved back in front of the chaos emeralds and now Shadow could see her eyes were twinkling with a devilish delight. "While considering you're answer I urge you to remember who it was who killed Maria. This could be you're last chance for revenge."

The screen went black now and left a small little emerald shape on the side of the screen while the timer on the DVD player continued to count down. Once it finished it spit the disk back out and the TV went black ominously.

Shadow could only sit and stare at the screen._ She… she knew Maria…?_ Something in his heart ached at this, and he was desperate to want to help her, to get information about the girl he knew he had loved and yet barely remembered.

Except… there seemed something fishy about this. Gerald had wanted to destroy the world, and if she was the back up plan, then she wanted to do the same. Why did she need him and the chaos emeralds? It seemed the only way to really get the information was to collect an emerald and give it to her, but was that really wise?

Did he have any choice?

A flash of blue entered his mind rather suddenly. He picked up the disk and narrowed his eyes at it. Sonic would benefit from hearing this information, along with Rouge. Both had been extremely interested in the enemy who was supposed to be able to defeat Eggman effortlessly.

Shadow placed the disk by the side of the TV. Did he want to share this with them though? Especially when it contained such intimate information about himself. He was positive he could (and probably would) tell Rouge, so she could get further along in her case; but the faker…?

He had two days to decide of course. Unlike his counterpart Shadow knew better than to rush into things. Sighing to himself, he pinched the bridge of his nose as his eyes began to ache from weariness, and he began heading towards his bedroom, eager for sleep.

Telling Rouge was the only decision he would be making tonight.

* * *

There was sounds that echoed in his mind… words that swam through a fog and were hard to understand. The voice though, he knew who it belonged to. It urged him to open his eyes, forcing his body and mind from the comfortable unconscious and into the waking world. Things suddenly came into focus sharply, pain shooting up his body, and blinking rapidly to try and make the blurry gray ceiling come into focus.

Thankfully the pain receded, as though it just wanted to remind him that he had been ignoring it, and the ceiling came into focus enough for him to recognize he was in Tails' bedroom of his workshop. He also realized it was Tails who was talking to him.

"- much electricity! No wonder you-"

"Ugh…" Sonic groaned. He lifted a paw to his forehead and turned his head towards the babbling fox. His green eyes were still foggy from exhaustion, but he looked like he was awake enough to comprehend what was happening.

"Sonic! You're awake!" Tails cheered. His blue eyes were brimming with molten happiness at seeing his hero was awake and well. "I was starting to worry!"

"Don't need to worry about me, buddy…" Sonic smiled weakly and started to push himself up. The pain was from tense muscles all over his body, like they had constricted harder than normal for some reason. Sonic was trying to remember what he happened, but all he could gather was getting caught by the bee before everything went black.

"What happened anyway?" He asked. Already his eyes were starting to clear, and his strength was coming back. Sonic was remarkably good at healing. Probably because everything seemed to be accelerated for the hyperactive hedgehog.

"Well, the easiest way to explain it would be the robot electrocuted you, but I don't think it's that simple." Tails seemed unfazed that Sonic was already shifting to get out of bed, despite the fact he had only woken up moments ago. "Something seemed weird about it."

Sonic tried to get up, and felt his legs protest so strongly that he almost fell back down again. He was a stubborn fellow though, and he wasn't about to just lay around when there was a new enemy out collecting emeralds. He forced himself on to stiff legs, scowling to himself. "I feel like my whole body is full of concrete!"

Once again, Tails seem unworried about Sonic getting up. A flash of it entered his eyes when his idol swayed, but seeing he was alright again eased it away. Tails had seen a lot of his hero getting beaten and then bouncing right back, so this was really nothing new to the fox. "It's probably because you're muscles seized really badly. That's why I said it was unnatural! You zonked out and then it made you're body react all funky for at least a half an hour after word!"

"Funky?" Sonic asked worriedly. He paused in slipping on new gloves, since the old ones had been half frayed or fried, resulting in him throwing them away (thankfully his shoes seemed hardly damaged at all). Just pulling on the gloves seemed to take a lot of effort and scowling as well, and it was actually starting to make him worry now.

"Weird energy readings, a high temperature, and a couple times you're body got all stiff…" Tails suddenly looked away, wanting to hide what he was feeling. He knew Sonic would sense it otherwise, but he still tried. "I couldn't really do anything to help…"

Sonic knew his little brother was guilty, and he also knew how scary being helpless could be. Plus, watching someone you grew up with react so violently and not having anything to help them? Sonic imagined the situations reversed and had to suppress shuddering for fear of hurting himself. He was shocked again just how strong his best friend really was.

"Hey…" Sonic walked over and placed a hand on the little foxes head. "You saved me yah know! Thanks a lot big guy!" He ruffled his fur and grinned, which only resulted in Tails trying to push him off.

"You're messing it up!" He complained, but he was smiling. The unspoken words of comfort successful in cheering him up.

Now it was back to business. With this new threat, Sonic didn't want to waste time. For that enemy could have found another one as he was unconscious. And seeing just how strong this new enemy was first hand, he was reluctant to find out what the new enemy had in store for the chaos emeralds.

"Let's get moving!" Sonic suddenly announced. "We need to find the remaining emeralds!" He shifted around Tails, forcing his stiff legs to jog.

"Yeah!" Tails agreed, glad to see his idol back to normal, and eager to follow.

Except Sonic stopped short when a flash of black and crimson entered his minds eye. For a moment he was confused, before he realized it was a memory that being zonked out had pushed aside.

"Oh crap!" The hedgehog bristled in alarm and whirled around to face Tails with dread.

"What's wrong?" Tails had nearly run into Sonic when the other had stopped and was now looking up at him in some curiosity laced with worry.

"I forgot about my date with Shadow!"

And to this Tails fell to the floor.

* * *

"Interesting. I don't remember reading about her in the files before," Rouge was saying as the DVD finished playing. She turned to Shadow curiously.

"She's a cheap knock-off of the Doctor, so of course you wouldn't." Shadow looked highly annoyed, sitting with a leg crossed over the other and his arms crossed about his chest.

"Bad idea laced with better weaponry," Rouge concurred. "All cliché's and plagiarism aside, she is a very strong opponent. Her weapons seem to operate a lot like you're chaos blasts."

"Hmm," Shadow closed his eyes and leaned back in the couch. "That metal she builds with is also resistant to any attacks unless chaos energy related."

"So really, this enemy is all about you," Rouge finally concluded.

"Seems so."

"What are you going to do then?"

Shadow opened his eyes again to face the bat sitting beside him. He noticed she was eyeing him curiously, leaning back with her legs crossed and her arms casually resting.

"I could get her the emeralds and keep you updated with information?" Shadow offered.

"Yes, but what about Sonic? Surely he will be no match for her, and could use your help."

The sudden and uncharacteristic suggestion made Shadow narrow his crimson eyes at the bat. "Why would I ever do something like that?"

"You're the only one who uses chaos energy related attacks, yet Sonic has a natural way of finding chaos emeralds. Being the great treasure hunter that I am, so do I, but I am unfortunately busy with another case right now, so it'll be up to you two."

"Rouge…" When did she ever turn down hunting for chaos emeralds? He knew her far better than she liked, since he was now glaring at her to come up with a better excuse than her last one.

Rouge sighed before smiling. "Alright, alright. I think it would be obvious for you to help him. You two are dating remember? It would only make sense." And now she winked playfully.

"Since when did you get so involved with this scheme?" Shadow couldn't help but drag his hand down his face now, exasperated. Sometimes he felt like he was surrounded by idiots.

"Since when I started thinking you two would be a great couple!" She laughed at the way Shadow looked up with an embarrassed flush and a furious glare.

"You're joking," Shadow declared, almost pleadingly.

He got no sign that he should be relieved from the bat though. Just a smirk. "I'll never tell."

The black hedgehog rolled his eyes before glancing away. "Working with him is an impossibility. He is much too childish for my tastes."

The white bat eyed Shadow now with a smile that was fading. Silence stretched between them both before she sighed. "Still mad about last night, huh?"

Getting no answer from the black hedgehog only proved her point. "I'm sure he'll have a good excuse." Rouge wasn't so sure, but she wanted to comfort the silently seething hedgehog somehow.

Shadow shut himself off completely though. Rouge could tell by his cold brooding and the murderous intent in his red eyes. Which meant no more talking would be going on now, because Shadow didn't want to hear it.

No, he couldn't force himself to care that something might have happened last night. He was filled with anger because he didn't understand why Sonic not showing up had bothered him so. Not even using the excuse he made Shadow look like a fool was valid anymore.

The silence became a bit much for Rouge at some point. "I gotta get going. Promised to visit Knuxie." Shadow's lack of conversation was a good enough indication that their conversation was over now anyway.

She stood up and placed her hands on her hips now, looking at the hedgehog sternly. "You're a stubborn hog who won't listen to me, but I'm still gonna say it! Think about helping the good guys for a change, if only because something does not seem right about this whole thing."

Shadow thought her paranoid.

"If you do decide to help her though, keep me in touch. I want a chaos emerald, but more importantly, I want to able to bail you out if something goes awry."

Shadow wouldn't bother to fight with her. Instead he nodded, and satisfied with the answer Rouge sashayed her way to the exit (which was her normal way of walking, believe it or not).

The door shut and Shadow remained sitting still for a long while, lost in his thoughts.

It seemed only logical to help Raven and figure out what the new enemy was all about, but because Rouge felt the same weird suspicious feeling he did, Shadow knew something about this Raven girl couldn't be good.

Yet, she might hold secrets about Maria?

Like Sonic did with those lost files…

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. He now found himself even more confused about this decision he was supposed to be making twenty-fours from now then he had been twenty-four hours ago.

Yeah I know. Boring and short. Two worst combinations. I needed it to set up the story's plot though…

I promise there will be more Sonic and Shadow in the next chapter.

Read and review please!


	5. Mecha Battle

Rapid pounding… _again_.

Shadow wondered why his days were beginning to follow a pattern of people visiting him randomly followed by someone making an unholy ruckus at his door with a heavy fist pounding on the wood; not necessarily in that order.

Growling with a cup of hot chocolate in his paw (yeah he liked it, _so what?), _he walked over to the door and practically threw it open, ready to chaos spear whoever thought it was a bright idea to try and visit him before he had even gotten to sip the wonderfully sweet liquid and enjoy a nice quiet evening.

Seeing blue made him see red. Sonic smiled sheepishly and the unfazed Shadow barely paused before he had grabbed the door and slammed it shut again.

"H-hey! Come on! I wanna talk to yah!"

Shadow wanted to turn and stalk back into his house, but Sonic was practically beating down his door now and he didn't think he could ignore the pathetic yelping. So, with an eyebrow twitching, he turned back and yanked the door open again.

"What the _hell-" _His voice started out in an angry hiss, but died when he suddenly looked over Sonic a bit more closely. The other winced in pain when he dropped his arms from knocking, looked absolutely exhausted which was odd, and he was covered in bandages. Shadow cocked an eyebrow suddenly as curiosity began to bloom inside of him, pushing anger aside. "-happened?" He finished in a more shocked tone.

And here came the guilt. Yeah, he could see why Sonic never showed up last night quite clearly.

"Faced a new enemy, got my butt whooped, then went searching for emeralds all day. The usual." Sonic shrugged. It obviously caused him pain since he winced when he did so. Still, he turned to Shadow and smiled sheepishly, ignoring his own pain like it hadn't even been there.

Shadow knew Sonic the Moron enough that it took a lot of pain to make him outwardly wince like that.

"Seriously Shads. I came here to apologize for not showin' up and all. Didn't want cha' to think I don't keep my promises or anything!"

Shadow didn't think Sonic would do something like this, and he was kind of right. Sonic never really apologized for things he did, because he didn't regret anything (or said everyone else). So, It must be because Sonic wanted to be there for the sake of their deal and not because he wanted to be there… which oddly made Shadow feel like he had a thorn in his chest.

Still, it was nice to hear an apology. Seeing the way the hedgehog looked as well only really aided the blue speedster in his quest for forgiveness. In the end Shadow was much too overwhelmed to remain angry. "Hmph…" He turned around and walked back into his house, but left the door open so Sonic could follow if he chose to.

He was not surprised when Sonic did. He heard the door click behind him and he placed the hot chocolate on the table on his way to the kitchen. He knew Sonic would understand it was for him, and also knew Sonic would understand the tacit signal of make yourself comfortable. It was the one thing Shadow found he liked about the blue hedgehog. He didn't have to really talk for the hedgehog to get what he meant, and he wasn't normally a talker so it was appreciated.

He made himself another mug of hot chocolate and then moved to join his rival on the couch. He did not go unnoticed that Sonic had pretty much just collapsed there. He looked like he could barely move his head, and the mug lay untouched on the table. Seeing just how limp the hedgehog was, Shadow doubted Sonic could even lift his arm and bend to reach it.

Curiosity finally got the best of him. "What happened?"

"Hmm?" Sonic opened his eyes and glanced at Shadow. Then he did his best with minimal wincing to sit up and look alert. "I got electrocuted. Tails said it had a weird energy output, and it made my body seize up. Pretty cool, huh?"

Shadow practically choked on his hot chocolate. _Cool? He calls that cool?_

"Just means I'll have to fight harder to win next time!" Sonic grinned, pain forgotten until he moved to punch the air animatedly. He winced before sighing to himself. "Course, I won't be able to do anything if my muscles don't loosen up!"

Crimson eyes watched the other hedgehog from around his mug for a moment. He had to admit to himself that Sonic had a lot of will, and was a tough cookie. After all, he had been in this pain all day he said, and yet he still went out looking for the emeralds. Probably right after he woke up too, because that seemed like Sonic's style. Shadow was silently impressed, but also thought the hedgehog to be ridiculous.

"A hot bath might help," Shadow finally decided to respond.

"Hey? You'd run it for me? Thanks a bunch Shads! That's way past cool!"

"I did not-!" Shadow almost dropped his cup in fury, but noticed Sonic was smirking at him playfully and now struggling to push himself up. It was such a pitiful sight to see Sonic the Hedgehog trying to get up like some old person with a broken body, that he eventually sighed and moved to push Sonic back down.

"Stay here, faker."

Sonic winced at the push, glaring at Shadow. It was just anger from Shadow irritating his injury though. It dissipated as Shadow handed Sonic the mug from the table and then disappeared deeper into the house. Soon Sonic's ears twitched to the sound of water running, and he stared at the hot mug in his gloved hands with some surprise.

When Shadow returned with towels in his arms, Sonic looked rather embarrassed. "I was kiddin'. You don't have to do that. I was gonna head home and-"

"Well, since you're my _boyfriend, _I have to take care of you remember?" Shadow tossed the towel on to Sonic's head before moving around to sit on the couch again. He settled in and grabbed the remote, switching on the TV to a random station.

"Heh!" Was the only response Shadow got for that.

The blue speedster managed to struggle his way to his feet and then stumble away to find the source of the running water. The door clicked shut, and absentmindedly Shadow flipped through the channels looking for something good to watch. It actually didn't bother him as much as he thought it would to have his rival in his home using his tub. Perhaps because Sonic had been forced to be calm and relaxed for once, and not the hyperactive trouble maker he usually was. Shadow found it was a lot easier for him to relate to the blue hedgehog when he wasn't acting like a bouncy ball.

Finally he settled on a game show network. In reality he had no idea how long he sat watching the TV, but eventually time began to poke it's annoying little hands on to Shadow's eyelids and he nodded off a couple of times. He shut off the TV and stretched, before his eyes fell on the full mug on the table beside his empty one.

Right… Sonic was in his bathroom.

He scratched the quills on his head a little as he moved to the bathroom and opened the door. He found shoes, socks, and gloves placed in a messy pile, and saw Sonic with his head propped up on the edge of the tub. His chest was rising and falling steadily.

The ultimate life form felt like slapping the hedgehog upside the head. Only Sonic the Hedgehog would fall asleep in a strangers bathtub!

Growling and mumbling, Shadow moved foreword and drained the water from the tub. He left the room again to return with blankets and tossed them on the sleeping form there. He also gave him a pillow so he would be more comfortable, and because Rouge happened to like baths, Sonic was very lucky Shadow's tub was actually big enough to allow him to lay down properly.

"You fall asleep in my tub, you get to stay there, faker."

Shadow couldn't help but be a bit amused by this though. He smirked to himself as he turned and headed for his own bedroom.

* * *

This time her robot was fashioned after a wolf, and like the animal it was created like it prowled along the ground in search of it's prey; a chaos emerald.

Raven could not believe how easy it actually was, collecting them. It was almost too easy. Then again with her powerful radars, and with three emeralds to use as magnets, it was almost no surprise.

She was on her way to collecting her fourth emerald now. And if Shadow joined her she would have five. "Ah Salt… not much longer before this world will be on it's knees."

Salt beeped in response, busy modifying the chaos emerald holding compartment to Raven's new expectations. Just a little security measure, in case someone did manage to get into her ship and into the compartment. The same chaos electricity that had taken out the blue hedgehog she had encountered before.

Sonic. That was his name.

Raven turned to her computer and brought up the research files she had found of him in GUN's database. Considering she had been both in hiding and in confinement during the ARK incident and for a long while after, she had not been completely caught up with the world and it's obsession with the blue speedster. Since she had also been so wrapped up in her blueprints while she was in her little bat cave, that fight had really been the first encounter with him.

He was an interesting fellow. Very similar to Shadow, and could apparently perform a lot of the same abilities. _He is no threat though. Couldn't even withstand the chaos electricity. _

Something about the hedgehog bothered her though. She didn't have time to bother herself with it though. Not when the chaos emerald's reading had gotten stronger. She closed the files and stood up, now taking her place in the cockpit of her machine again.

Her robot pushed trees right out of their roots as the wolf came to the spot where the emerald was located. Boy was she shocked when she saw a robot waiting for her. One that was extremely familiar to her.

Raven grabbed the microphone and yanked it from the ceiling of her robot. "How in the world did you survive!" She hissed. Certainly he should have died in that fall.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Every great genius has a back up plan!" Eggman grinned cockily and faced her wolf robot completely. His was more humanoid shaped, and it actually brought up it's fist in front of it as though it were about to enter a boxing match. "And this time I will have revenge for destroying my lovely evil lair!"

Suddenly rockets rained through the air, and Eggman's robot came at her wolf with a surprising amount of speed. Still, Raven was not impressed. She jerked the control to the left and the wolf leaped out of the way, rockets leaving it's chest and colliding with Eggman's, causing mini explosions in the air. Raven forced her robot's mouth to open wide and shoved the controls foreword, and the wolf leaped and clamped it's metal jaws around the other robot's leg.

The wires exposed began to spark and hiss, and Eggman's robot suddenly tipped as the leg gave out a little underneath it. He wasn't done though. He grunted and slammed his fist on a button to his left. His robot slammed it's large metal fist into the wolves head, loosening it's jaws and sending her robot colliding into trees and earth.

"I won't go down as-!" Eggman's taunt died in his throat as the wolf stood back up easily. Despite the powerful blow, his robot hadn't even dented the metal coating of Raven's bot.

"You underestimate me. Now you die." Raven hit her own button. A large satellite disk rose from the wolf's back, and the air charged around the weapon. Electricity cackled and turned red, an eerie humming filling the air violently.

The laser that fired exploded in a long spray, and it burned tree's in it's path, scalding the earth. When it collided with Eggman's robot explosions of fire and black smoke erupted as it began to fall apart where it stood. The heat of the laser made some of the metal melt, landing in boiling puddles on the ground.

When the laser finished, it looked like a forest fire had just erupted. The machine in front of her was now a pile of scrap metal and red hot puddles. Raven wasn't feeling very good about her victory though. She was looking at her radar and scowling.

The energy signal of the chaos emerald had disappeared. And when she tried to look for any traces of Eggman in the rubble or the air with another setting in her radar, but found absolutely nothing.

Anger boiled over in her chest, and she slammed her fist down on the dashboard in front of her. "Argh! That stupid bald-headed egg-shaped-!" This was supposed to be an easy mission, and she didn't have time to deal with idiots getting in her way and delaying the inevitable!

"Master?" Salt was standing behind Raven now, finished with her modifications, and unfazed by the battle that had just occurred.

Raven sighed heavily, calming herself. "I'm fine." She typed in the coordinates of her hide out and put the machine on automatic. "Just a minor set-back." She ran a hand through her hair and sat back in her chair, before turning to her trusty side-kick. "Would you please mend the shielding mechanism?"

Salt beeped an affirmative, glad to see her master relaxed again. She rolled away with her little toolbox eagerly, glad to fulfill the desires of her master.

Raven blew her bangs out of her face and pouted up at the computer screen in front of her. She didn't have time to dwell on her failures, and so tried to push the sour spot in her chest to the side so she could start focusing on going foreword.

After all she had three more emeralds to collect, and now one to peel from Eggman's grimy fingers.

_Enjoy it while you can, Eggman. _Her violet eyes darkened dangerously as a sinister smirk broke out across her face. Raven crossed a leg over the other and brought her hands together in her lap. _I won't loose again._

* * *

"In you're bathtub?"

Rouge peeked inside the bathroom and practically burst out into uncontrollable giggles when Shadow gestured. She walked up and eyed the huddled blue hedgehog hugging the pillow to his tan chest. "It's would almost be cute if he wasn't drooling."

Shadow was smirking in amusement as well, walking up to stand beside Rouge. "I've been debating on how to wake him."

Rouge glanced at the ebony hedgehog, a bright twinkle in her eyes. "We could scare him?"

"Hmm… maybe."

Rouge finally turned to face Shadow completely. She had come here to discuss some of her new Intel, but once again the more personal and quite surprising aspects of Shadow's personal life was much more interesting. "I think I know just the thing!"

Shadow's smirk only strengthened, and he raised an eye ridge with expectant curiosity. "Oh?"

Instead of answering, Rouge suddenly reached over and turned the shower on. On the coldest setting there was too.

The reaction was almost immediate. Sonic yelped and leaped from the tub like a wild cat that had been thrown in a pool. In his haste to escape the water he barreled right into Shadow and sent them both crashing out of the bathroom. Rouge was left in hysterics as Shadow now lay tangled in the hallway with a blue moron, and trying to shove him off.

With the shock over, and the situation making it's self clear, the blue hedgehog was suddenly on his feet and with his emerald eyes burning pure hate. "What the heck was that for!"

Shadow stood up a bit more slowly, wiping off his fur and looking unmoved by Sonic's anger. Actually, seeing the other's pink tainted face (whether it be from anger or embarrassment didn't matter) was rather amusing, and therefore had the opposite desired effect Sonic was looking for.

"Hmph," Shadow turned away and headed for the kitchen. "Rouge, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

For the first time Sonic seemed to notice Rouge was even there. Now his face was red since he was naked in front of her without his gloves or shoes. Plus, she was laughing so hard that he felt his pride beginning to deflate.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic ended up snapping at her.

"Oh relax, hedgie." Rouge composed herself and tossed Sonic his clothing. "I have some information that you might be interested in."

Sonic was glaring at her as she walked past him after Shadow. Still, he wanted to know what Shadow and Rouge would be talking about, and quickly yanked on his gloves and shoes so he could follow.

Shadow was looking at Rouge leaning on his counter expectantly. Sonic decided to lean against the door frame, back to his usual self now, crossing his arms and waiting. Of course, he wasn't very good at that, and his foot began tapping almost instantly.

There was no point in delaying it. "There was a strange energy reading near Emerald Cost."

Sonic and Shadow caught on immediately. Rouge found it very intriguing how both sets of eyes hardened with the same relentless determination at the same time.

"You think it's a chaos emerald?" Sonic asked, while Shadow remained silent.

It seemed all three of them were looking for an emerald, and all three of them were doing so for different reasons. "I'm not sure. What I do know is that if that is an emerald, then there is a pretty good chance that new enemy will be there as well."

Ah… explained why Rouge was telling them. Shadow thought it odd she had not gone out to get the emerald herself, but he also knew her as one who didn't like getting her hands dirty. She wanted them to do the hard part of battling the enemy, and then she would steal it from them when they all had their backs turned.

"Heh! Time for a rematch!" Sonic posed in a fighting stance, his emerald eyes twinkling with excitement.

Rouge eyed him a moment before a smirk slowly started coming across her face. One that had Shadow actually looking worried. Nothing good could ever come from that kind of smirk. "We can kill two birds with one stone! You owe Shadow a date don't you?"

Shadow wanted to slam his head into the table. He honestly had no idea what his friends motives were for this… other than her secret amusement to his utter humiliation.

Sonic just looked shocked and unsure of what to do now. "Eh?"

This was exactly the reaction she was hoping for. She started heading for Shadow's front door, using Sonic's shock to her advantage. "Then it's settled. I'll go get Knucklehead and meet you at the beach in an hour!"

* * *

_Phew... Can't believe I've updated so soon again. Guess you could say I got inspired!_

_Anyway, here's Chapter Five! Hope you like! Read and Review please!  
_


	6. Good Friends Right?

"It's about time!"

Rouge saw Shadow walking across the beach towards her with the same emotionless mask he generally chose to wear out in public. Rouge couldn't help but smile at seeing him carrying a bag of supplies, a beach chair, and dressed in sandals, swim trunks and sunglasses. It was cute.

Shadow knew even if they did find out that the energy reading was a chaos emerald, Rouge would be intent on finishing her date after retrieving it. Which made her very pleased. Her smile died very quickly though. She was not happy there was no blue hedgehog following close behind the ebony hedgehog.

"We're not waiting another hour and forty-five minutes," Knuckles warned suddenly, making Rouge's eye tick with frustration. She did not want a repeat of that night at all.

"No," Shadow agreed. His mask never slipped as he walked around the couple and started looking for an empty spot on the beach to set up his chair and drop his bag. Shadow was eager to get the sandals off his feet, since he wasn't really accustomed to wearing them. Normally he wore his specially engineered shoes created by Gerald for him, and he had them in the bag towards the bottom.

He would be damned if he left his house without his shoes.

The bat sighed and followed after the hedgehog, hands on her hips. She flipped her own sunglasses over her eyes and set up her own beach chair beside the ebony hedgehog. She was smart enough to bring an umbrella as well, so as to not get burned by the cruel sun that she didn't really happen to like much anyway. She rested her arms behind her head and got comfortable easily.

The ultimate life form glanced over at the echidna setting up beside Rouge (who had been made to carry both his own things and hers; so whipped), before looking down at the bat again. "I suppose you already searched for the emerald?"

"Yup." She replied, flipping her glasses up to give Shadow a mischievous grin.

"There was never an emerald here. Can't you tell there's no trace of there energy anywhere?" Knuckles cocked an eyebrow at the black hedgehog.

Shadow half glared at Knuckles' tone, and then looked down at the bat who had gone back to laying on her beach chair with her glasses hiding her expression. It was obvious he was not going to get an explanation from her, so he looked back up at Knuckles again for the answers.

"There was this weird rock. Probably came from space. A nice treasure for an astrologist or a museum." Knuckles looked smug as he got comfortable in his own chair.

Shadow was just glad Rouge hadn't been lying one-hundred percent.

"So, who is this date of yours?" Knuckles asked. He was smirking, obviously finding amusement in Shadow's date being late again, and Shadow felt his fists clenching at his sides. "I'll be glad to meet her… if she ever shows up!"

"Knuckles!" Rouge suddenly sat up and glared at her boyfriend as he laughed. She raised her hand to slap him, but the sound of an embarrassed shout stopped her.

Now it was Shadow's turn to smirk at the echidna. "Speak of the devil."

Sonic the Hedgehog never did anything normal. It had to be extravagant and unique. So, he came crashing down the beach, sand flying everywhere, the wind caused by his rushing flipping over umbrella's and unfurling some of the weaker knots of a few girls bikini tops.

"_HIM?_"Knuckles cried out, shooting out of his seat like a rocket.

The blue speedster screeched to a halt in front of the trio, spewing the echidna and his open mouth with sand, a chili dog in his hand and an amused grin on his face. Shadow rolled his eyes at the blue speedster, who was obviously proud of himself for causing so much of a stir.

"The super hot and mysterious detective has arrived!"

All he got were stares and a spluttering Knuckles trying to get sand out of his mouth and eyes. "Alright, I know it's bad, but give a hedgehog a brea-" His voice cut short when he noticed something was off.

The search party Sonic had agreed to meet here were all sitting in chairs with swimming gear and sunglasses. "Wha…?"

And then Sonic began to pace like a caged lion, all ready to spring into action and looking like he was invisibly held back by the trio's laziness. He almost dropped his lunch in anger (if it weren't absolute deliciousness that is). "What th' hell are you guys doing? We should be out looking for the chaos emerald!"

"There is no emerald," Shadow replied, unfazed by Sonic's flailing.

Knuckles had finally recovered from Sonic's sand-attack by now, and he looked positively livid. He took a step foreword, fists clenched, violet eyes blazing wildly with anger, forgetting all about the 'Shadow's Date' thing. "You're gonna pay for that sandstorm!"

Sonic clenched his own fists, careful of his chilidog mind you, and prepared himself for the punch he knew Knuckles was going to throw at him. "Hey! I don't have time for this! I gotta get that emerald!"

"I told you there is no emerald Sonic," Shadow cut in patiently. He stood up now, crossing his arms and sighing to himself. He only wished to get out of the line of fire though, since a scuffle between Sonic and Knuckles usually ended in excessive damage to anything and any_one _nearby.

"Then I'm leaving!" Sonic responded with an impatient growl, already beginning to turn and make for a dash.

Knuckles was quick to cut off Sonic's escape route though. "Not without paying up, hedgehog!"

And Rouge had just about enough of all this. "Oh shut-up!" She leaped to her own feet grabbed Sonic before he could run off. "You owe Shadow this date! So you will sit here and like it!"

Sonic glared at the bat holding him back, but couldn't escape the guilt that her statement caused. Yeah, he apologized, but he didn't think that made up for making Shadow look like an idiot, even if he couldn't be there for obvious reasons.

UGH! He so did not have time for this!

He felt the urge to get the emeralds pulsing through him, but managed to relax enough to face Rouge completely again. He looked a little restless as he did so, like a horse stuck in a stable with a large view of the field in front of it, but he shrugged helplessly and did his best to smile. Rouge had him with the guilt, whether Sonic liked it or not. "If that new enemy gets another emerald and takes over this world though, don't say I didn't warn yah!"

Rouge looked slightly satisfied with that answer. "Good. Now let's enjoy this date." And she shoved Sonic towards Shadow before turning around to face her boyfriend, ignoring the surprised 'whoa!' the action received. "You! There will be no fighting today, got it?"

Except Knuckles was too busy staring at Sonic and Shadow with a mocking expression to really hear her, suddenly remembering Shadow's date was supposedly the blue hedgehog. "So… they're on a date?"

Unable to understand why Knuckles asked such a thing, Rouge blinked and looked behind her. Her shove had caused Sonic to bump into Shadow, and the chili dog had landed in the sand because of it. Thus making Sonic angry, and he was currently pressing his forehead into Shadows with his fists clenched, seething. And how did Shadow react when faced with anger? Got angry himself and return the gesture, of course.

It was all pent up anger from Sonic mostly. He wanted to run around and find the emeralds, not waste his time here when the enemy was out and about, his chili dog was ruined, and he was surrounded by tourists and a huge amount of sea water (which he happened to be rather uncomfortable with even with the chairs set up a good distance away from the shore).

Today was obviously not his day!

The blue speedster didn't forget about his little scheme though, or that Knuckles was here. What kind of prankster would he be if he didn't take advantage of this?

"Looks more like they're about to brawl," Knuckles continued, amused. Rouge being ignored and getting irritated was always funny. He also had the feeling that Sonic dating Shadow was all just this plan, devised by Sonic and Rouge most likely, to prank him. To know it failed was probably embarrassing to both of them, which immediately gave Knuckles the advantage here.

"I _said _no fighting!" Rouge exasperated towards the hedgehogs, huffing angrily.

Maybe it was her words that jarred the two hedgehogs into remembering they were on a date, or perhaps it was just incredible timing. Either way, not soon after did those words leave Rouge's lips, did the most extraordinary event take place.

Sonic's expression softened and he wrapped his arms around the ebony hedgehog, his scowl slowly forming into a smirk as he brought the other hedgehog closer to himself. Shadow bristled and glared at the hedgehog, wanting to demand Sonic let him go and ask what the hell he thought he was doing, but he saw the glint of a challenge in those jade orbs before him and it silenced him.

Sonic was trying to out _act_ him…

It was so ridiculous Shadow could have laughed. However, it was still a challenge, and Shadow's pride wouldn't let him ignore it. So instead of getting angry and shoving the hedgehog, Shadow reacted accordingly. He forced a blush and smiled timidly, allowing his eyelids to become half mast while relaxing in the blue hedgehog's embrace.

Shadow would beat him up later for this. From Sonic's fiery expression, which could have been mistaken for passion by onlookers, he could tell the blue hedgehog was thinking the same thing.

To the outside world though, it looked like a shy lovers embrace that might just lead to a kiss. Rouge felt her cheeks grow pink at the sight, and she dropped her glasses in shock, and she honestly had no idea how Knuckles was fairing. She herself was having trouble keeping her heat beat steady and her blood inside of her nose.

Sonic leaned in, and Shadow glanced away as shyly as he could, which caused Sonic to chuckle weakly and mutter something about forgetting he didn't like PDA before releasing the black hedgehog. It almost felt scripted… Shadow was surprised the two hedgehogs knew how to play off each other so well.

It was almost like they had been thinking the same thing at the same time.

Once the two hedgehogs had put some space between each other, they both turned towards the other two members of their date.

The look on Rouge's face was absolutely priceless. Inwardly Shadow found himself smirking. She could take it as revenge for humiliating him at his house, and it never tasted so good.

Sonic had a less silent reaction. Faced with the pale white, slack jawed, absolutely terrified, pointing Knuckles; Sonic could not keep himself from bursting into uncontrollable hysterics.

It seemed to jar Knuckles right out of it. "W-what th' hell are you laughing at!"

"You!" Sonic cried out. He doubled over, clutching at his tan stomach. His laughter was beginning to make some fellow beach goers look up.

Knuckles fumed.

Shadow glanced at his blue companion practically falling over, and then looked up at Rouge. Seeing her smirk too made Shadow visualize Knuckles as a bomb in his head. He started ticking down the seconds silently until Knuckles exploded on the blue hedgehog, actually interested to see what would happen.

"Knucklehead… you should have… seen… your face!" Sonic gasped out between wild guffawing.

_3..._

"Most perfect expression I've ever seen!" He finally seemed to gather himself a little, speaking a little easier and in words that were a bit more coherent.

_2..._

"Oh gods… if I had a camera…!" Sonic snorted and it started up all over again. And this time he really did fall over.

_1..._

Shadow had been watching Knuckles turn redder and redder, until the tan fur of his muzzle disappeared completely and a vein popped out on his head. And as predicted, the echidna exploded towards Sonic in a burst of speed even Sonic would have to be impressed with. Sonic's expression went from hysterical laughter, to shocked fear, and Shadow smirked in amusement. Let's face it, he owed revenge on the hedgehog for that stunt earlier, and he realized that in this situation, he probably would have been out to strangle the laughing speedster himself. So, Sonic had no sympathy from him.

_That's what you get for playing with a volcano, faker._

Knuckles gripped the hedgehog before he could escape. "THAT'S IT! TIME FOR A SWIM!"

"W-whoa! Waitaminute!" Sonic looked nervously up to Shadow for help as he tried to struggle out of the echidna's grip. "Come on Knuckles! Put me down! No need to be hasty…"

The echidna stomped down the beach with the hedgehog thrown across his shoulder, making a ruckus quite well, and Shadow shut his eyes to try and ward away the headache he felt coming on from Sonic's panicked yelps to Rouge about getting her boyfriend under control.

"Aw~ My Knuxie is listening to me!" Rouge got all starry eyed and her cheeks tinted red.

"You call that listening?" Shadow looked over at Rouge, cocking an eye ridge. The situation was a little more humorous to Shadow when he found out Sonic had no sympathy from Rouge either.

Rouge dead panned. "Normally he would have tried punching Sonic's lights out for this."

"Ah…" Shadow paused before closing his eyes again thoughtfully. "I don't see that happening for very long."

"You're probably right."

Both bat and hedgehog turned towards the sound of a girlish squeal and a splash. Seeing Sonic standing dry and Knuckles with a mouth full of seaweed had Shadow blinking in surprise, but Rouge was unfazed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring.

Now_ everyone _on the beach had noticed what was going on.

Rouge growled in dismay as Knuckles screamed at the blue hedgehog that blew him a raspberry; thus inducing a chase down the beach with Sonic taunting and laughing and Knuckles cursing as he tried to grab the slippery hedgehog.

"They act like children…" Shadow mumbled, even more surprised by such antics. He knew Sonic was hyperactive… but this was a whole new level.

The white bat looked irritated. "And they're ruining my date!"

"I'd say they're providing entertainment."

Rouge whipped her glare around like a whip, and stung Shadow. The ultimate life form was not affected though, and simply directed her towards the group of tourists laughing and watching with a tilt of his head. The bat calmed enough to follow what Shadow seemed to be getting at, though she didn't like it. She finally threw her hands up in defeat and went back to her chair to lay down again, grumbling about 'men' and 'typical'.

The more people who saw the four of them together, the faster the word would spread out that Sonic and Shadow were supposedly together. It was actually brilliant, but Shadow was faced with another conundrum at Sonic's unusual ways of getting things done. He was beginning to wonder if Sonic did these things by accident, if he was lucky enough to have fate work these things out for him, or if he was as quick thinking as his feet could move.

* * *

Eventually Knuckles had to tire from chasing the blue hedgehog. He came to a halt and panted heavily, putting his large hands on his knees and doing his best to catch his breath.

"Catch me if yah can~" Sonic taunted, practically running in circles around the echidna.

Knuckles flicked his hand at the hedgehog like he was some pesky fly. "No way. I'm done with you."

Sonic came to a halt now and looked amused. "Aw come on Knux... Giving up so soon?"

The red echidna shook his head and straightened up, giving the hedgehog a smirk. "Wait until we're not on a date and I catch you in the open, Sonic. You'll be begging for mercy then."

The hyper hedgehog understood where the echidna was going. And would he ever turn down a challenge from his favorite sparring partner? Absolutely not!

Sonic gave Knuckles a cocky grin in return. "Well, if you like the idea of loosing to me _that_ much."

With that to conclude, the mock fight was officially over. Tourists were laughing and talking excitedly as they turned away, resuming their relaxing on the beach. Knuckles followed their example, starting back for his own beach chair where Rouge and Shadow were waiting. Sonic quickly fell into step beside him.

For a long while the company was silent, and a different kind of tension began to fill the air. "Shadow, eh?"

Sonic blinked and turned to look at the echidna. "Yeah, so?"

"I never even thought…" Knuckles pointedly avoided Sonic's gaze, looking awkward now. "… you would be… but you and Amy seemed so obvious…"

The other finally understood what Knuckles was getting at. Smirking wildly, he wrapped his arm around the echidna's shoulders and laughed. "What? You afraid of me now Knucklehead?"

"Get off!" Knuckles shoved the laughing hedgehog away. "Of course not! I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Sure…" Sonic snickered and gave him a sly look. "You're probably afraid I'm checking you out all the time, huh?"

"Shut up!" Knuckles growled and finally brought burning violet eyes to Sonic's jade ones. "I just thought you'd go for Tails or Jet. Maybe even Espio!"

Now the laughter seemed to die from Sonic's expression. Those same jade eyes began to burn as well, but instead of the same offensive fire that Knuckles bombarded Sonic with, it was a defensive one. His quills bristled dangerously. "What's wrong with Shadow?"

"He's… moody."

"So?"

"He's worked with Eggman before!"

"As have you."

"Being tricked doesn't count!"

"It does in my book!"

Sonic glared hard at Knuckles now, defying him. The echidna returned it faithfully.

"You're personalities don't match and it'll never work out. That's all I'm saying."

"Sometimes opposite's attract."

Knuckles stopped walking now, surprised by Sonic's defense on Shadow. The tension hit it's zenith while hedgehog and echidna continued to stare at one another. Knuckles looked away to break it, and it slowly flowed away from the air around them like the ocean wave drew away calmly from the sandy shore.

The echidna sighed. "You really care about him don't you?"

Now it was Sonic's turn to be surprised. He knew what to say, "well duh! Why else would I be dating him?", but that still didn't stop him from being faced with a truth that perhaps the blue speedster would rather not have known.

"You'll never listen to me anyway…" Knuckles finally grumbled and resumed walking. He was smiling though. His way of saying he had accepted Sonic's decision. After all, he was friends with the blue speedster, and that loyalty meant he kind of needed to accept Sonic's decision.

He was also not the hedgehogs mother, so he wasn't going to fight the stubborn hedgehog's decision either.

Sonic stood idle a little while longer, his jade round and searching for Shadow, looking over the other's figure and expression when he found him. He just wanted to bring Shadow out of his shell was all… that's what a good friend would do right? A good friend would defend him against what Knuckles said right?

And a good friend would use this scheme both as a way to stop Amy and get Shadow to hang out with more people (so he wasn't home alone all the time like a sketch ball)… right?

The confusion made his nerves jittery and his leg's restless. And since Sonic the Hedgehog was not one to be stuck still for long, he listened to that rather than the feelings of confusion; which Sonic was not very good with anyway. He pushed those thoughts away and let his legs take him to things he did know about, like the wind whistling in his ears as he split through it with incredible speed.

He ran to where the other three were in the blink of an eye, already feeling better with the movement. And with the confusions pushed aside and forgotten completely, he was back to his normal self in no time.

"Hey! Knuckles approves!" Sonic called as he came to another sand skidding halt and then forced his way into Shadow's beach chair, ignoring Shadow's sound of shocked anger. "Great huh?" The blue hedgehog continued, reaching with nimble gloved fingers to steal Shadow's sunglasses (earning a "Wha-!") and get comfortable on the chair beside the ebony hedgehog.

Shadow growled at the blue hedgehog because the position this was in was uncomfortable, Sonic had intruded on his personal space rather rudely, and because he was causing tourists to point and whisper. "Faker…" He warned slowly.

Sonic ignored him, slipped the sunglasses on, put his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, and then flashed Shadow a grin. "We should take our relationship to the next step to celebrate, eh Shads?"

And this was rewarded with shocked choking from the echidna, gasps and whispers from the tourists who were now watching the group constantly, and some stifled laughter from a white bat.

Shadow sighed and flopped down on the chair beside the hedgehog, giving up the fight. Mostly because Rouge said there would be no fighting today, but also because the sooner those tourists leaked to the presses that they were "together", the sooner Amy Rose understood Sonic was not interested in her _that _way, and the sooner Shadow could stop being so passive and actually punch the hedgehog for being a space invader from planet moron (course, that would probably cause a domestic abuse scandal…)

Shadow closed his eyes and sighed heavily at his ponderings, wondering where the heck he was finding the patience to deal with the blue one beside him. "Hmph…" He was also wondering how Sonic could even relax like he was when he was turning a one seat beach chair into some mockery of a lover's seat couch. "Fine."

Absolutely no one could have predicted the mass media explosion such a statement from the two hedgehogs would produce.

* * *

_Read and Review pretty please? _


	7. Paparazzi!

"Well, see you~" Rouge called before turning to walk arm and arm with Knuckles back to Angel Island. Knuckles only gave a wave of his hand in departure.

Sonic and Shadow watched them silently for a moment, before Sonic turned to Shadow and gave him a friendly smile. "Walk yah home?"

The day had been rather fun, Shadow thought. Yes, he did spent most of it sitting on a beach chair and relaxing, but even he was coaxed into getting in the water at least once. Sonic was a bit of a different story since he didn't like water. He made sand castles instead, which Knuckles and Shadow had fun destroying whenever they could. The air never seemed to get any worse than a mild scowl of anger though after Knuckles' and Sonic's outburst, so it really did feel like the four of them were great friends enjoying a day on the beach together.

Shadow didn't think he would ever get along with them, yet he had found himself talking with Knuckles quite a bit. He even sat down once to join Sonic in his mission of making a sand castle (and protecting it from Knuckle-zilla), finding himself talking with the hedgehog a lot more. In fact, he had conversed with more people today than he thought he had ever conversed with in his life (Rouge didn't count, he already talked with her on almost a daily basis).

The black hedgehog looked up at his stolen sun glasses on Sonic's head before looking back into the others questioning glance. "Fine." He had enough fun to forgive Sonic for stealing his glasses too, which probably spoke more volumes to Shadow than any of his wondering about the day.

Sonic started the steady pace back to Shadow's home, keeping a comfortable silence between them. Shadow enjoyed this about Sonic, how they could walk together and have no need to speak, but not have the air feel like it was thick with things left unsaid or with negative vibes.

The silence was not enough to keep Shadow sated after the day he had today. The ultimate life form was rather personable and energetic tonight because of it, and found himself curious on what Sonic was thinking as the others eyes started roaming all around his surroundings. They were so full of life… Shadow never realized just how powerfully they burned until the colorful rays of the sunset reflected off the metal buildings of Station Square and hit them just right, setting them on fire.

"Do you not like Amy?" He suddenly blurted.

"Huh?" Sonic blinked and focused on the black hedgehog.

Shadow was lost in just how vibrant those hedgehogs jade eyes were, but quickly managed to regain control of his thoughts. "This scheme of yours. Is it because you don't like Amy?"

The blue hedgehog suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. He glanced away and looked up at the sky again. It was turning violet now as the sun continued to disappear over the horizon. "It's… complicated."

Shadow was not letting Sonic get away with a half-assed answer. He glared at the other hedgehog expectantly. "Explain, faker."

Sighing, Sonic shrugged helplessly. "I care about her, like I care about Tails or Knuckles. I just hate her chasing me all the time, because it get's her in trouble. I feel responsible because it was me she was looking for." Sonic put his hands behind his head now, closing his eyes and looking slightly annoyed. "She takes it the wrong way when I hurry to rescue her. I would rescue anyone locked up by Eggman, even if it was Eggman himself, and especially if it was my fault."

Silently Shadow processed this information. His silence was taken as a cue for Sonic to continue. "She's got a good heart, and a lot of passion, but I wish she would focus it on something other than me. I mean, come on! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! Always looking for another adventure! I'm never gonna settle down and get married or have kids! I'm too busy chasing bad guys in space and stuff!"

The black hedgehog was looking at Sonic in another light now. With this new insight, he could see how the life of a hero Sonic had chosen was a rather lonely one. He could not have any real love or a family because they would be a target for his enemies, not to mention a weakness for the hero himself. Shadow wasn't really looking into these things, uninterested, but he could imagine Sonic maybe thinking about them. Despite saying he would never settle, Shadow begged to differ. He didn't think Sonic wanted to never settle because of his love of the adventure, but because he had no choice.

Shadow just didn't understand it. "Knowing the path of a hero is destined for loneliness, who do you choose it?"

"It's not about being a hero," Sonic replied. He dropped his arms and looked at Shadow seriously now. "It's about what's right. I won't let anyone take away another person's freedom, and that's why I fight every one of Eggman's plan to rule this planet."

The silence stretched for a moment again. Shadow's opinion had again been changed of the blue hedgehog. He had a new respect for him, because Sonic did the hardest job of anyone. "What about the love of the people of this planet?"

"I fight for what I believe in. If you believe it to, then stand beside me. If you don't, then get out of my way, because I'm not gonna hold back!" Sonic's eyes burned with the righteous fury he felt inside of him. He was smirking his cocky smirk now too, and had his hands up in a fighting stance.

Shadow really couldn't help himself, smirking at the blue hedgehog. "So this hero stuff is not at all as selfless and devoted to the public as it seems?"

The blue hedgehog relaxed his stance and grinned in return, even throwing in a wink for good measure. "You got it."

"Hmph, so much for the knight in shining armor."

"Well, if you want you can take that job and I'll be the damsel for once~" Sonic shot back, batting his eyes at the other hedgehog playfully.

"Moron…" Yet Shadow said it with an amused smile.

"Sonic the Hedgehog!" The shout had both Sonic and Shadow stopping and turning towards the sound. Running towards them was a woman dressed in a red business suit, with a fancy hair cut and make up enhancing her face. She carried a microphone, and behind her ran a man with a large camera. "Would you have time for an interview?" She stopped before him with the microphone shoved into his peach colored muzzle and with a desperate look in her blue eyes.

Sonic glanced at Shadow, meeting only a dedicated glare, before turning back to the woman with some surprise. "I guess?"

"We have received an anonymous tip that you were currently engaged in relations with Shadow the Hedgehog. Is this statement true?"

Oh~ Sonic smirked evilly and suddenly shot his gloved hand out to grab Shadow and yank him over to himself. He wrapped his arm around Shadow's waist and winked up at the news reporter. "Yep."

The news reporters face grew pink as she looked down at them both. "Shadow the Hedgehog, how would you say you're relationship status is?"

She threw the microphone in his tan muzzle, and Shadow glared pure rage at her for nearly taking his nose off. "What the hell kind of question is that? We're dating you idiot." What else did engaged with relations mean?

Sonic smiled painfully at Shadow's response, before shifting to wrap both his arms around the hedgehog's waist. He gave the camera a large smirk before planting a wet kiss right on Shadow's cheek, popping up his leg in a cliché manner just for good measure. "I love my little sugar cookie!"

The reporter's face, mouth agape and redder than her suite, was absolutely priceless. As was the way Shadow shuddered and bristled in Sonic's grip. Sonic ignored the death threat Shadow was shooting him with a single glance, and snuggled his head into Shadow's quills, milking this for all it was worth.

"Well you heard it hear first folks. This was Scarlet Garcia with the entertainment update!"

One news reporter opened the door for more. Suddenly camera lights were shining down on the two hedgehogs and people were shoving microphones to them like crazy. Sonic snickered and enjoyed every second of the limelight, but there was a point where it even became to much for him. Suddenly it was overwhelming, and Sonic grabbed Shadow's gloved hand and took the opportunity to escape when he could, dashing out of the mob of people that had flocked towards them like zombies around a car alarm.

"They're worse than seagulls!" Sonic jogged down an alley as the reporters followed them, shouting with endless questions and pleading with them to wait. Sonic jumped a fence that came through the middle of the alley effortlessly, leaving the reporters behind.

"You kissed me!" Shadow shouted in outrage once they had left the alley behind, wanting to clean his fur vigorously now. "And what the hell is _sugar cookie_?"

Sonic burst out laughing as he slowed down his jog. "Afraid of _cooties_, ultimate life form?" His slower pace allowed Shadow to find his footing and jog along behind the blue speedster instead of being dragged, but still had them moving together much faster than any normal human could travel. "And would you have preferred cupcake?"

"You little-" Shadow blinked and realized Sonic was still holding his hand, rather tightly too, and smiling back at him with eyes bright and dancing with excitement. Running, knowing he could never be caught, and forced to think quickly on his feet to keep it that way. That was the kind of adventure Sonic the Hedgehog was always looking for.

At least that better be it. Shadow sure as hell wouldn't call pissing said ultimate life form off an adventure, but a suicide.

They turned the last corner that brought them to Shadow's house, and Sonic brought them up short. "Aw man! Now they're getting like Egg-custard!" The vans and the camera's were all waiting for Shadow to return home, like a pack of lions waiting for a zebra to mess up on it's way to the watering hole.

"Alright! Time for plan B!" Sonic tightened his hold on Shadow's hand and whipped around to start running in the other direction, towards the train station. "Hope you don't mind sleepovers!"

Shadow was glaring at the people surrounding his home with venom. "I don't really have a choice…"

* * *

The sound of the door opening alerted Tails to his idols return. He glanced up from the new invention on the table and looked behind him to confirm his suspicions. He saw blue quills and immediately got up to race towards him. He didn't expect to see black with red to follow though. "Sonic! You're ba- huh? Shadow?"

Sonic smiled to his buddy, holding up a thumbs up. "Hey buddy! Hope you don't mind Shadow stays here for the night. He's got a little bit of house trouble."

That's when Tails noticed the scuffled look of the two hedgehogs. Sonic had a black eyes, bruises all over his arms and chest, and twigs sticking out of his quills and fur. Shadow looked the same, and even had a patch of fur missing from his fluffy chest.

"What happened?" And by the way he was looking over the hedgehogs, they knew it wasn't just about Shadow's house. "Did the new enemy attack you?"

In response the fox had his idol smiling sheepishly and Shadow crossing his arms and huffing. "N-no Tails. Just a little man-to-man confrontation. No need tah worry big guy."

Tails sighed, his previous worry gone now that he was face with the typical unpredictability of Sonic the Hedgehog. Honestly, the fox didn't know what happened, but knowing the end result being a scuffle between Sonic and Shadow that Sonic called _man-to-man confrontation_, meant he probably didn't want need to find out.

"Well, I'm glad you're home. There's been some weird energy readings down in windy valley."

Suddenly all the embarrassment in Sonic's expression completely vanished from his posture. His focus and determination returned, and he started walking into the workshop with his buddy close behind him. "Are you sure?"

"Positive! It shut the construction site of the new bridge down because the machines there were acting strange. They called it an odd solar flare." Tails sat down at his computer chair while Sonic leaned on the desk beside him. The twin-tailed fox pulled up the image of the news cast he had found that stated what he had explained.

"Solar flare?" Sonic sighed. He thought the people of Station Square would have realized by now that no solar flare caused machines to act on their own will completely. He put on a mocking thinking expression, scratching his chin with his finger and his thumb. "Hmmm… that sounds suspiciously like an emerald, wouldn't you say Watson?"

Tails laughed at Sonic's joke as he pulled up a map, using a gloved finger to circle a certain area. "I've pinpointed the locations it's most likely to be in based on the construction site blue prints."

"Sweet!"

Suddenly, the news changed with a urgent jingle, and Tails pulled the video back up curiously. Sonic felt dread though when it announced an entertainment alert. The screen flashed images of Sonic and Shadow; at the beach together making a sand castle, holding hands while running, and Sonic's little kiss incident all over the screen, before launching into a full blown debate/report.

Tails blanched and then looked up at Sonic in mortification. "A little overboard, don't you think!"

Sonic was back to smiling in embarrassment, scratching the back of his quills. "You know me! Can't do anything without blowing up the something."

"That should only go for robots!"

"Hahahaha…"

Tails closed his eyes now, one of his ears folded and the other half way towards joining it, face scrunched up in a wince. "Well… maybe we can use this as a disguise. Since the news wrote it off as a solar flare, it might not be suspicious enough for our new enemy to go looking. And with you two all over the news, I doubt they'll play that report again."

However, soon it was back to business, and Tails regained his posture to look up at Sonic again. "I say we retrieve the emerald asap!"

"Good idea," Sonic replied, dropping his hand and also returning to business. "How soon will we be ready to go?"

"I just need to finish a few modifications to the Tornado," Tails supplied, "and a new invention I'm working on to keep you from getting electrocuted again. Give me like two hours."

"Two hours?" Sonic made a face.

"That's all I need, honest!"

He didn't look happy, but he sighed in defeat. "… alright."

Tails quickly jumped from his computer and the over excited news caster going on about how she approved of this relationship, grabbing his tool box on the way.

The blue hedgehog was impatiently watching him, before turning to the other behind him. Shadow had been silent this whole time, moving to the corner to watch with interest, observing how Tails and Sonic interacted and about the chaos emerald, but finding no interest in adding input. He had not forgotten that he owed that new enemy a response, and was wondering what he was going to do about it.

It seemed that the time of decision was coming soon.

"Totally make yourself at home Shads. The kitchens in the next room over, and the bathroom's in the downstairs hall. My rooms upstairs, and you can use that, right next to our way past cool, decked out in awesome, game room." Sonic waggled his eye ridges as a gesture for Shadow to take that as an invitation to go check it out and play, and then he was off in a dash doing whatever Sonic did when he prepared for a battle

This left Shadow alone in the workshop, and he wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do. He did know one thing though, Sonic was going out for the chaos emerald, and whether he be declining or accepting didn't matter, he still needed it in order to confront this Raven character.

So, Shadow supposed that he would not be enjoying that game room after all, because he would be going with them.

* * *

_Another short one. _

_Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all the great reviews already! You're the reason I take time out of my busy schedule to sit and get the chapters out faster! _


	8. That Wasn't So Hard

_I suck at action sequences I think... oh well, all I can do is __promise that the action will proceed to get better as the story goes on._

_Anyway, hope you enjoy!  
_

* * *

It had been a while since Amy had seen her darling Sonic. He was in the papers and all over the news because he ran around helping people almost all of the time, but it was never the same as seeing him in person! The pink hedgehog left her steamy bathroom with a robe on, doing her best to dry her quills with the towel in her hands.

She glanced at the news station, listening to the anchor talking about celebrity relationships. She sat down and crossed her legs, listening mostly because she didn't want to find anything too interesting. She wanted to get to bed early. Amy had seen the solar flare report, and she knew that it was definitely not a solar flare.

And where there was a chaos emerald, there would be Sonic!

She couldn't help but day dream though! Amy brought her hands to pink cheeks and squealed. "Soon Sonic and I will be the hottest couple on TV!" She giggled and let her mind go crazy with the buzz that would cause.

"Now on to the hottest couple in entertainment history! Sonic the Hedgehog, the great hero of Station Square, has finally settled down with a sweet heart!"

Amy giggled as she heard this, her face growing even more rosy in color. She was so lost in her daydream though that she hadn't really recognized the words were actually coming from her TV.

"It was confirmed earlier this evening by Sonic the Hedgehog during an interview, that everyone's favorite blue hedgehog has settled down with none other than the notorious Shadow the Hedgehog." An image of said ebony hedgehog flashed behind the reporter on the screen.

Amy felt her world turn to ice and she crashed back to earth quite rapidly. "W-what…?"

The reporters mouth was moving, but Amy wasn't listening anymore. Now she was just staring at the images on the screen, where Sonic was kissing Shadow's cheek and was at the beach with him making sand castles. Her heart began to hurt, betrayed and fractured. "He never went to the beach with me…"

Then her pain evolved into a fire that burned hotter than the sun, and she launched to her feet as denial and determination rose up inside of her. She didn't care what the news caster reported, she could not believe what was being said. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Sonic was hers, and she wouldn't let anyone get her in way!

Amy whipped around towards her dresser and began searching for her usual red dress and red boots. Guess she was going to have to skip sleeping and find that emerald now!

She needed to find her Sonic and figure what was really going on!

* * *

Sonic didn't complain that Shadow was coming with them, though Tails didn't look to certain about it. Then again, Shadow was rather hard to get used to with some of his moods, so Sonic understood the twin-tailed fox's reluctance to include Shadow in the discussion before boarding the Tornado. Shadow seemed to share the same reluctance.

That was fine though, because Sonic had created the conversation for the both of them.

He was excited, and therefore hyper and ready to go. He was armed with new metal attachments to his shoes, in case the new enemy did show up, that would absorb the energy should he get shocked again. He thanked his buddy with a thumbs up and a ruffle of his fur, and then took his place on the front of the Tornado.

Shadow decided to take the wing on the right. It seemed a lot of his reluctance had to do with heavy thought, because normally Sonic's hyperness resulted him with 'faker's' and 'moron's' but all he got were 'hmphs'.

That was fine too, because there wasn't much talking needed when they were flying through the air at top speed, making it whistle and rather hard to hear over.

When Windy Valley approached, both Sonic and Shadow leaped off the plane and landed on the ground with simultaneous soft _thuds. _Shadow landed on one knee and stood up slowly, red eyes glancing back and forth without moving his head. Sonic landed the same way, and immediately checked the communicator Tails had given him to keep in touch.

"Tails can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Sonic!"

"Sweet. How far are we from the predicted site?"

"Not far. Continue south a little. I'll land and come join you guys in a couple minutes!"

"Right, see you soon buddy."

The communicator signed off with a beep, and Sonic turned to Shadow now with a grin. "Alright! Let's go!"

Shadow glanced back at Sonic, nodded once, and then started foreword.

They walked in silence until they hit the construction sight. Sonic immediately started for the upturned piles of dirt by the bulldozers, while Shadow circled the outskirts.

And to be honest, they probably hadn't been searching long when Sonic grew impatient and annoyed. After all, he didn't want to spend his whole night looking for one emerald! He decided to stop and check how Tails was doing, though his ulterior motive was to find the locater-thingy so he could get a move on with the show.

"How yah doin' up there?"

"It's a little harder to find a stretch of land long enough to land on since Eggman's last failure."

Considering Windy Valley was hunks of rock attached to metal mesh like bridges linking them together, Sonic could understand that. Not only was it hard enough finding a stretch long enough for the Tornado to land that didn't end up a violent drop off a ledge or a wimpy metal bridge breaking underneath it, but with Eggman practically destroying the place last time, it was probably next to impossible.

Sonic scratched the side of his head and sighed heavily, closing his eyes and scowling. He really was no good with these kinds of situations. "We're not having much luck either here."

Suddenly something flew over him with a shriek.

The ebony hedgehog, who had been half listening to the blue hedgehog, finally turned all the way around to catch Sonic's eyes. Sonic found those ruby orbs, and they both knew immediately that something was about to happen.

The metal bridge that was half finished before them suddenly whined and creaked as a giant magenta robot smashed down on it, vibrating the earth underneath the two hedgehog's feet. It screeched like a pterodactyl, metallic wings stretched out and it's red metal eyes gleaming.

"What was that?" Tails cried in alarm from Sonic's wrist, while the blue hedgehog braced himself for battle.

"Looks like the rookie's come out to play!" Sonic chuckled, eyes blazing. _Finally! Something exciting!_

"Hang on! I'm on my way!" The communicator signed off again.

"Well, well. I'm not surprised to see you here Shadow." The voice was metallic as it came out of the robot's beak. "I _am_ surprised to see him here though."

Shadow didn't say anything, but the damage was already done. Sonic blinked and glanced between the robot and Shadow with confusion. It was surprising to say the least. A part of him wanted to be angry too that the new enemy barely gave him recognition, while the rest of him was too shocked by Shadow's involvement to do much of anything but wait and watch.

"You know each other?"

"Not formally."

"Hmm… it seems your time is up, Shadow. The time for making a decision is now."

The blue hedgehog knew when there was time to question Shadow, when there was a time to threaten this new character, and when there was a time for witty banter. Sometimes he chose the wrong time to do things to get a rise out of someone, like Knuckles for an example, but that didn't mean he didn't understand the mechanics of timing. So no matter how much Sonic wanted to ask and figure out what was being talked about, he wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

Shadow turned his red eyes towards Sonic before going back to the robot. The blue hedgehog could only hope that his gaze was nothing but expectant. After all, he didn't want to pressure the ebony hedgehog or force him into doing anything he didn't want to.

The new enemy obviously didn't get the memo about not pressuring. "Well?" The metallic voice prompted.

Again, just because Sonic wasn't trying to pressure and was politely waiting, didn't mean he was suddenly going to become uncharacteristically patient either. The smirk spread across his face and he jumped foreword, blocking Shadow from the robot now. "Well, I know what I'm gonna do! Bring it on dino-brain!"

"Wait!" Shadow held out his hand to try and stop Sonic, but the blue hedgehog had already rushed off and tried to homing attack the head. Like last time, he barely dented the metal, and the machine whipped it's head around and sent Sonic flying fast into the nearest bulldozer. A cloud of dirt and dust kicked up on impact, and a trench was left as Sonic had hit the dozer so hard that it had slid across the ground before coming to a full stop.

The machine opened it's mouth, charging the red laser that Sonic had encountered the last time he fought this enemy. Sonic began to struggle to get up and out of the way quickly, knowing full well a hit from that laser would mean certain death. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he would get to be so lucky, since his back had yet to be given the chance to recover, and it kept him from getting up. His emerald eyes found the laser and glared with defiance as the glowing red ball steadily grew in the robots mouth.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Amber energy, shaped like the head of an arrow, and cackling like fire, suddenly collided with the robots beak. The pterodactyl screeched in pain as it was knocked off balance, releasing the laser straight into the air instead of at it's intended target. When it regained it's balance, it's beak had holes in it, wires sparking and little lights gleaming inside of them.

With the robot occupied, Shadow moved towards Sonic to help him up, looking annoyed. "You can't attack her that way, faker!"

Sonic didn't look to pleased with the others help. "It was worth a shot!" He retorted stubbornly, ripping his arm out of Shadow's grip.

The black hedgehog was about to respond, when the cold metallic shout of, "Shadow!" stopped him. Shadow whipped around and faced the robot, bracing himself. Sonic followed suit.

"This is your choice is it?" The voice was outraged. "You will regret it!"

The black hedgehog didn't turn to look at Sonic, but flicked his head to the left. It got Sonic's attention, and the blue hedgehog glanced towards the other with curiosity.

"What?"

"Get the emerald. I can sense it over there."

The flame of outrage exploded in the blue hedgehog's chest. "No way! I'm helping you fight!"

Shadow's response was quick. "No! The metal is fused with chaos energy. You won't be able to damage it."

The other hedgehog glared at Shadow, but he didn't respond. He didn't like being told he couldn't fight. Honestly, who would? He also couldn't doubt that Shadow was right, which really sucked. If the metal was made with chaos energy, then he wouldn't be able to break it unless he had something to power him up, like a power ring or a chaos em-

_Oh!_

Realization clicked. He could help fight if he had the emerald! Or at least, be more of a help than he could ever be now. Sonic's glare melted in to surprise. He watched as Shadow's red eyes warmed a little, and Sonic realized that's what Shadow had meant from the very start.

There was still one thing that bothered the other hedgehog though. "Wait, you could sense the emerald the whole time and you kept us wondering aimlessly looking for it?"

"I have my reasons," Shadow replied, smirking back at the blue hedgehog behind him.

With an exasperated sound, Sonic rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Just gimme a sonic second!" And then he was off in a flash of blue, leaving Shadow to face the new enemy on his own.

"That emerald is mine hedgehog!" The metallic voice cawed after the blue hedgehog. A compartment opened up and a robot came speeding out, the same raven shaped one that had encountered Shadow at his apartment and told him to watch the disk. It followed after Sonic, using jet propelled rocket boosters similar to that of metal sonic.

Shadow watched, but was uninterested. That single small robot was no match for the blue hedgehog.

"Now. As for you!" The robot focused fully on Shadow and screeched, the sound clawing at Shadow's ears and making him cringe. Suddenly, with a violent flap of it's wings for a boost of speed, it lunged.

"Hmph." The black hedgehog smirked, side stepping quickly and avoiding the assault. He whipped around, noticing the robot was making a wide turn to come back at him with another swoop, and sent another chaos spear right through the robot's wing. It fumbled in the air when struck, screeching in pain, and then landed heavily back on the earth before the hedgehog.

It's flight interrupted, the robot decided on another tactic. Like most of Raven's robots, a missile launcher opened out of the robot and started showering the ground with them. The ultimate life form realized easily that the missiles weren't aiming though, but were more random in their patterns. He found it rather odd, but he wasn't just going to sit here and try and figure it out.

Shadow dodged the missiles coming towards him effortlessly, skating through the shower of dirt that each blast brought. He tried for another attack, but suddenly the robot disappeared in a flash of white. When it returned, it was behind Shadow, and it was shooting missiles again. The black hedgehog scowled in annoyance. The robot would be a bit harder to hit now while using chaos control to move around at incredible speeds, but Shadow, being the very embodiment of chaos control, could also track it's movements rather easily.

He dodged another missile blast and dirt shower, and then launched himself foreword, using the remaining missiles to make a homing attack sequence. He reached the body of the robot, and used his homing attack to smash the missile launcher. He flipped back on to his feet, watching it spark and the robot shake oddly with his gaze never leaving a steady glare.

"You insolent-!" Came an angry shout. It was cut off by another screech of the robot

Suddenly the robot disappeared all together.

"What!" Shadow's eyes widened and he began to look all around himself, searching all around for anything that would give the robot away. This was not chaos control, for he would be able to sense and track it's energy. This was a cloaking device. The robot was invisible, and since Shadow wasn't sure what kind of weapons this new enemy had hidden, he really didn't want to close his eyes and try listening for it. He wanted to be prepared for anything.

When the robot appeared again it was directly behind him, and the tail was coming at him at a speed he wouldn't be able to dodge. Shadow cringed and prepared to be struck…

* * *

Sonic raced up the slope, shoes clinking off the metal bridges he ran along. He could see the glittery flash of color now, right at the very top of the sloping incline he was running towards. With the dino-robot occupied Sonic thought it would be an easy snatch of the emerald and race back down the hill.

Boy was he wrong when a rocket blast exploded the earth behind him and threw him into the air. "Whoa!" He landed heavily, wind knocked out of him, but only needed a moment to recover and roll on to his feet.

A different robot, Raven shaped, held up it's wing, revealing the rocket cannon blaster it had used.

"Where did you come from?"

The response was another blast from the robot's rocket launcher. Sonic dodged it easier now that he had expected the assault. It flew past him, exploding the dirt a few feet behind him, and he smirked as he straightened out and rubbed under his nose with his finger. "Heh! Now it's my turn!"

Sonic launched into a homing attack. He knocked the raven robot right in the chest, sending it backwards. He flipped and landed on his feet again, scowling when he noticed he had barely left any damage on the body. _Chaos energy infused metal again?_

The robot stood up from it's crouched position, and then used the same rocket boosters to come at the blue hedgehog. It spread out it wings, and blue electricity exploded from them, becoming like rods pointing into the clouds of a thunderstorm.

Sonic blinked and barely had time to dodge the first attack. The wing sliced by his side, inches away from piercing right through his skin, the electricity making his fur stand on end. Sonic quickly hopped to the left, and then tensed his legs in preparation for another quick dodge. "Shocking!"

As predicted, the robot raced towards him again, jabbing with it's wings quickly. Sonic felt like he was fighting Knuckles, and was kind of glad. He was used to this fighting style, and used to the quick dodges he had to make in order to avoid each jab. And like when fighting Knuckles, he stayed one foot ahead of the robot.

Finally he saw an opening. He dropped to the ground and threw his leg up into the air, kicking the robot square in the face. It wheeled back, thrown off balance for a moment, and Sonic used the opportunity to get to his feet and race around the robot with blinding speed. He went in a circle, making the air travel with him until he had made a mini whirlwind. It threw the robot into the air and sent it flying off, landing a few feet away with a heavy crunching noise.

"For a creator that makes such strong robots, she sure made you easy to beat! I barely broke a sweat!" Sonic grinned. The robot was out of commission, he finally decided, when it did not make any attempt to get back up and attack again.

Sonic was slightly disappointed that the fight was so short, but in the end it didn't matter. He shrugged before racing off to collect the emerald. He came to a stop before it and wrapped his gloved hand around the purple gem, feeling the energy radiate hot pulses into his palm that made his whole body tingle.

"Sweet! Now, it's time to join the real fun!"

* * *

… but was only met with the sound of bullets raining off metal and the sound of a plane flying over head.

Shadow opened his eyes, met with smoke and fire, and saw the robot stagger back and screech at Tails. The bullets must have knocked something off, because whatever Tails had done he had damaged the robot enough to stop the attack in it's tracks. Shadow glanced up at the Tornado, watching it swoop down for another assault. The bullets exploded on impact, and Shadow was shocked that such mundane things could damage such a strong metal.

It must be the modification he had decided to make. Shadow made a mental note to ask the twin tailed fox about that later.

Whatever he did, it was not enough to impale the robot's metal coat, but enough to cause some damage and make the robot stall and give Shadow the opening he needed. "Chaos spear!" He whipped his hand foreword, sending out the arrows from before, sending them crashing into the robot. Metal cracked, fire exploded from the impact, wires exposed sparked violently, while the robot made a hissing sound in pain.

Shadow aimed one good homing attack at the robot's head now. It didn't need any more damage done. It staggered and swayed before it lost it's balance and went tumbling over the edge of the broken metal bridge. Shadow walked over to watch it fall into nothing, sending a cloud of black smoke up in it's wake.

He stood up again, curious that Raven had so little to say towards him towards the end, especially after knowing that such an easy defeat would be so humiliating. What made it even more curious was how Sonic said he had lost and yet he himself had beaten her with only a few good placed hits. And if Sonic equally matched him in a lot of ways then... Shadow's eyes narrowed. _There's something wrong about this.  
_

"Aw! I missed the party?"

Shadow glanced behind him as the blue hedgehog suddenly arrived, emerald in his hand and a pout on his face. It was so amusing that Shadow forgot his suspicions almost instantly, and really couldn't resist teasing the other. "Too slow, hedgehog."

As predicted, Sonic reacted splendidly. He twisted his face in pain, as though his dreams had been shattered. "I was so looking foreword to that fight too!"

The ultimate life form snickered. "I'll save you some ass whoopin' for next time."

Sonic walked over and punched the ebony hedgehog in the arm playfully. "Sure yah will, glory hog."

Shadow's first reaction was to pull back and launch a punch right into Sonic's face in return. Since the others punch didn't hurt, he had to only assume it was playful, like a puppy nipping another puppy's ear. It wouldn't seem very practical to hurt the other after that, so Shadow adjusted his reaction to glaring back at the hedgehog.

Suddenly there was a tension in the air that Shadow really couldn't place now.

The sound of the Tornado ripped through it. The blue hedgehog turned towards it before glancing back at Shadow, still looking a little surprised. There was a moment where green eyes and red eyes locked, before Sonic closed his eyes and sighed with amusement, as if Shadow had said something ridiculous.

"You really need tah lighten up, buddy."

Then, in the blink of an eye, Sonic dashed right off the end of the metal bridge and on to the Tornado as it flew past.

The ebony hedgehog cocked an eyebrow for the term buddy, but didn't have time to dwell on it long. He had to skate after the blue hedgehog and launch himself on to the Tornado after him before it got too far away to reach.

* * *

Raven returned her cold eyes to the screen before her. Shadow was right, she did have a plan.

Salt was standing beside her, watching the same video of Sonic and Shadow together on the beach. The copy she had made of herself was currently being scanned for the data of it's defeat.

After learning of the new development in Shadow's personal life, and studying up more on the blue hedgehog's character and history, Raven had known almost immediately that Shadow would have declined her offer. What kind of great genius would she be if she had not figured such a thing out anyway? And like the great Gerald Robotnik she idolized, she had a back up plan for everything.

And if all went well, she could use this to her advantage. Raven's glasses flashed and an evil smirk spread across her face. "That blue hedgehog will certainly come in handy in the end, won't he, Salt?"

Salt beeped excitedly in agreement. "Indeed."


	9. There's Just Something About Sonic

_I know there's a lot going on in this chapter. I'm sorry if it ends up getting confusing at times... _

_Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! Reviews are good, they help me write faster! Constructive Criticism will help me write better! Flames are just mean and should be illegal, so I ask for none of them please.  
_

* * *

The gorilla robot paused in the middle of the dense trees, and Raven watched from above in her dragon like air craft. The gorilla had wide arms and shoulders, but small legs. She did not make it look special with colors or anything, because it's only design was to destroy. It would smash away at it's target while being shot at, and would continue even if it had missiles spearing through it's body until it ran out of juice. Both brutal and just the right robot for the job.

"The emerald that was stolen will be returned by evening." Raven announced confidently.

Salt beeped questioningly at her creator, watching from Raven's side. Both robot and human watched the gorilla resume it's steady march through the trees, bending a few down with it's strong arms as it moved a few trees out of the way as easily as if they were toothpicks.

"I have tracked Eggman's base to be somewhere in this forest." Raven shifted from her Gorilla to the large computer she had been conducting her research on, analyzing the data of her phony Salt's defeat.

Salt glanced down at the Gorilla working it's way through the forest, scaring a few large green frogs that desperately hopped to safety. Not without summoning a small rain of course. Thankfully, chaos energy infused metal was very resistant to rusting. "Eliminate target this time?" The raven-bot finally asked.

The computer beeped and finally brought up the results of the data. Raven smirked at her accomplishment and twirled around in her chair to face her trusted side-kick. "Of course! Now, let's focus on something a bit more important than silly old Eggman!"

Salt looked at her creator with the best expression of curiosity a robot could make.

"Now, how do you stop an out of control car?" She giggled devilishly while Salt waited for what she had to say. "We pull the hand brake of course!"

"… Master?"

"We're going to make a very special serum for a very special hedgehog."

Salt looked at her master silently for a long moment. What really differed Raven from Eggman, was not just her expertise on machines, but also on bioengineering. After all, she had worked on the space colony ARK for a long time. The one that had been searching for eternal life. There the ultimate life form had been created, but also a brand new type of science that was as frightening as it was fascinating.

And it was obvious that Raven planned to use her expertise to her advantage. Researching the blue hedgehog had proven that every defeat an enemy had suffered was due to direct offensive strategies. The blue hedgehog, however, had never encountered and would be no match for something that came silently and internally.

"Capture hedgehog then?" Salt finally asked.

"Yes. That's you're next objective. I'd like you to get ready for a few new weapons I've been developing alright?"

Salt beeped acknowledgment and turned to roll away so she could shut herself down and get worked on. Raven watched her go before turning back to her computer. Her plan was to use the blue hedgehog like she would have used Maria. To draw Shadow to her.

And with this new plan of hers, she doubted it would fail. Heck, she doubted anyone would even see it coming!

* * *

The black hedgehog approached the fox that morning. Sonic watched from his spot at the table with curiosity, as Tails' ears flattened slightly and he looked up at the ebony hedgehog with some obvious fear in his eyes.

They had all gotten home late last night, but charged with energy thanks to their defeat of Raven. Excitement very quickly turned into exhaustion for Tails and Sonic though, since they had both been searching for the emeralds almost non stop for the last few days. Sonic convinced Tails to go to bed before doing so himself, and Shadow was to do his own thing with free reign of the workshop to do as he wished until he decided to go to bed too.

Shadow didn't really need much sleep, so he ended up checking out the game room after all (he would never admit openly that it really was as awesome as Sonic promised).

Morning came and fox and hedgehog both agreed to set out early looking for the sixth emerald, but Sonic of course couldn't go anywhere without waffles first. Despite being the fastest thing alive, he sure knew how to slow down, for the plan to go out searching had now been delayed by quite a bit thanks to the blue hedgehogs quest for a hearty breakfast.

Still, it gave Shadow the opportunity to say what he had been thinking about since last night. He had found the perfect timing after Tails set what was supposed to be waffles at the table before the over eager hedgehog, and he silenced the room so badly that not even the clock on the wall was making any noise just by simply mentioning the kid's name.

Apparently, him calling anyone by name was a very odd thing indeed.

Well, the ebony hedgehog had started, and he wasn't about to stop now. "Just wanted to say thanks, for helping me with the robot yesterday." Shadow's eyes quickly jerked to the side now, and he crossed his arms about his chest.

Tails' blue eyes rounded. For a moment time seemed to stand still, before Tails broke out into a happy grin. "No problem!" His tails started to idly swish through the air in a content manner, ears fully erect on his head once again.

In that moment, all tension between the fox and the black hedgehog seemed to disappear completely. "Sit down and eat with us! There's plenty of waffles to go around!" Tails indicated the plate in the middle of the table before running off to the fridge to go collect the syrup and the orange juice.

The black hedgehog seemed to think about it, red eyes glancing over at emerald one's. Shadow was shocked to see them so soft, contradicting the smirk on the hedgehog's face. It was like Sonic was teasing him, but at the same time the liquid feel of the other hedgehog's gaze was appreciative. Of what? Shadow didn't get it, he thought he was just doing what he was supposed to.

At least, that's what Maria would have told him.

"Sit!" Tails insisted, smiling as he returned and took his own seat at the table.

Shadow couldn't decline when asked again, so he sat down, eyeing Sonic oddly before turning back to the twin tailed fox. Tails helped himself to some waffles, and when he sat back down, he helped himself to a heaping load of syrup too. Shadow cringed, not looking foreword to such a sugary meal, but reached over to collect some of the waffles anyway. Sonic did the same, and then all three anthropomorphs dug silently into their meal.

Too bad Shadow was not in a silent, thinking mood. "I also wanted to ask you. What are the bullets in the Tornado made of?" It seemed like a good conversation, as far as he was concerned anyway. After all, he didn't see anyone else making any other suggestions.

Tails swallowed a mouthful of waffles. "Oh. I just crushed the fake emerald I created a while ago into a fine powder and infused it into the bullets."

"I see…" Shadow mumbled thoughtfully while looking down at his untouched plate.

"To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure if it would work..." The fox continued, smiling sheepishly.

"Well it did! And the idea is awesome Tails!" Sonic said through a mouthful of syrupy mess. He swallowed too before grinning at Shadow. "My best buddy can invent all sorts of cool things! He could probably even tune up those rusty old shoes of yours!"

Thoughtful was knocked away in order for Shadow to glare properly at the blue hedgehog.

At the same time, Tails looked bashful. "Well I could play around with a few things… but only if you wanted me too, Shadow."

Sonic continued smirking at the black hedgehog, who was glaring daggers at him after Tails' reaction. "Yep! Totally upgrade them with boosters stronger than a space ship."

"I could!"

Tails' eyes were full of excitement. Shadow didn't reply to the cocky blue hedgehog or the fox though. Sonic was up to something and he wanted to figure out what the other was doing.

"Then you guys can talk about the Tornado and it's bullets or whatever while Tails does it," Sonic finally concluded. He took another bite of his waffles, eyes sparkling mischievously when he turned his gaze to Tails. "You better make them so fast that he'll actually give me a run for my money, got it champ?"

Shadow dead panned at that. It certainly hadn't taken him that long to figure out what was going on. And he really should have expected this too. After all, Tails was Sonic's best friend, and if he considered the two of _them_ to be _buddy_'s, than he would probably want the same for the twin tailed fox.

"I will too! But if you loose I don't want to hear you whining!" Tails cried, accepting the laughing Sonic's obvious challenge. Shadow was beginning to realize that for some reason, when Sonic issued a playful challenge, is seemed absolutely _no one _was able to resist it. There was no explanation to this, other than too much Sonic made other people act just as childish if only so they could tolerate the whirlwind of a hedgehog without going completely _bonkers._

Or maybe there was just something about Sonic.

Shadow closed his eyes and sighed. "How about we stick to this deal. Leave my shoes alone, but we will_ talk," _(and he gave Sonic a look as he stressed the word), "about the Tornado together. I have an idea where we can maximize your emerald powder bullets power anyway."

"Really! That would be great!" The fox's eyes lit up like a young child being told they would be going to the candy store. He was so excited he nearly jumped out of his chair to start now, and Sonic, obviously amused, had to remind him to eat.

The black hedgehog took a bit of his own waffles (no syrup on his), watching with a tiny inward smile of his own. You know, he actually kind of found Tails' reaction to be cute… in that little kid sort of way.

* * *

It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened when she came upon the carnage. Amy Rose looked upon the ruined bulldozer with some dismay. Considering it was dented majorly, and there were a lot of holes in the earth that looked like something small had blasted through it instead of being shoveled out, she could only come to the conclusion that Sonic had already been here.

"Ohh!" She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. She was mad at herself for taking so long to get here. Then again, she had to wait for the train station to open since she was not a super sonic hedgehog nor did she own a plane. This was something she hadn't taken into account when she left her apartment, and ended up having to go back and wait impatiently for the clock to strike nine in the morning so she could resume her search for the elusive blue hedgehog.

She had hoped that maybe Sonic would have come in the morning instead of as soon as he could. Unfortunately, this was Sonic she was thinking about. When was he ever waiting around for anything? Which was kind of annoying sometimes. Amy would not want Sonic any other way though.

She loved Sonic for Sonic, and that meant even his more childish and reckless behaviors as well.

Now Amy was faced with a strange dilemma. Where might she find Sonic next? Seeing he was in search of chaos emeralds, she was willing to bet he was working with Tails. Which meant the most logical place to look would be Tails' workshop. Of course, even if Sonic was not working with Tails (which she doubted), the two odd brothers kept in touch frequently. If her hedgehog wasn't there than it was probable that Tails knew where Sonic was. Which meant that the workshop was also a good place for her to find clues on where to look next.

Mind made up, Amy shifted and started back for the Mystic Ruins. Tails' workshop resided there, so thankfully she would not have to get back on the train and travel too far. That would be a pain.

Her heart was aching incredibly, and there was a fear that lined her gut. Both of these drove her to run as fast as her cute little boots could take her through Windy Valley. She needed to find Sonic. She needed to know from him if what was said on the news was true. She didn't want to believe it, and she couldn't bring herself to. She doubted she could accept it even if Sonic did tell her the truth.

She clung on to the hope that it was some kind of hoax though, or propaganda. Sonic and Shadow could just be hanging out as friends and someone made a rumor that was spreading like wild fire. It had happened before with another group of celebrities so it had something going for that at least.

Yes, somewhere deep inside she knew she was denying this ignorantly, and somewhere she knew that the news caster had said it was confirmed by Sonic himself in an interview. Amy had loved Sonic for so long… almost twelve years of her life. For all that time she had clung on to the hope that Sonic would eventually get over his cold feet and reluctance to be tamed and accept her love. She was devoted to him through and through.

And it was going to take more than a news cast to shatter this.

She needed to know from him in person. Just thinking about it being true brought on the bitter sting of betrayal. Amy would need to know why, and would need to know what she had done wrong.

No… Amy shook her head, fighting back the tears that were stinging the back of her eyes. She couldn't think like that. She made herself focus on the task at hand, jogging along one of the metal mesh bridges that brought her closer and closer to the exit of Windy Valley, and entrance to the Mystic Ruins via a cave.

Perhaps somewhere deep inside Amy knew she was setting herself up for the complete destruction of her heart and very existence. For now though, she was content with her search, her hope and her denial.

* * *

Sonic had went his own way, Tails had searched in the sky, and Shadow had decided to travel in the only other direction that was unclaimed. He decided that if he had been forced to choose sides (thanks to Sonic), than he might as well continue to work on that side. Shadow couldn't say he minded very much though, since something still seemed rather off about the whole deal with Raven.

Not at all like the Doctor. Yes, Eggman would often use Shadow for his own gain, but at least the Doctor he had chosen to work with had freed him from his prison, and rescued him after he fell out of orbit after chaos controlling the ARK meteorite heading towards Earth, therefore warranting his help. Who was this scientist claiming she knew Maria and Gerald and then demanding he help her? Wouldn't he remember her if she was really that important to them both? Why should he allow her to use him for her own benefit when all she ever tried to do was blow up Sonic?

Which… that thought actually kind of surprised him a little.

Alright, who was he kidding? The blue hedgehog was starting to grow on him (despite all of his harsh thoughts about him being such a moron all the time). A lot of Sonic was annoying, what with his hyperactive-ness and his cocky attitude. There was also a lot of him that reminded him of a certain woman he had loved though. Like Sonic's love of beautiful scenery and flowers, his infinite kindness, his want to do whatever was right and to help whoever was in need in any way he could. Those things just screamed Maria, and sometimes he thought he could even feel her presence when he was standing beside the blue hedgehog.

It was confusing him. Shadow felt something stirring inside of him that was familiar but he wasn't sure of. To be completely frank, he wasn't sure who it was for either; the memories Sonic invoked, or Sonic himself.

Which then raised another confusing predicament for himself. Was Shadow actually beginning to care about Sonic? It seemed awfully ridiculous, since the ebony hedgehog had only been around the other for a week at the most. Yet, he had spent a lot of time with the other. In fact, almost every day he had seen the other for hours at a time. Hell, they had even slept over at each other's places.

No. That wouldn't matter. If there were feelings, Shadow was almost positive they were 100% influenced by his infatuation with the similarities he saw between the hedgehog and Maria. Which really wasn't fair, but it was the only explanation he had that made sense. After all, such strong emotions did not take a week to develop, despite how much time he was with the blue hedgehog. Years though… over years they had the chance to grow so strong. He grew up with Maria, but he had barely known Sonic a year ago. And then, he barely talked to the other except for the occasional confrontation that lead to a race or some kind of battle (or him trying to kill Sonic…)

Shadow sighed, feeling his thoughts and emotions get a little scrambled. He hadn't even realized where his feet had taken him. It was out of habit that he found himself in the field of moon flowers. They were ivory, and opened up under the light of the moon, sparkling under it's silver radiance. The kind of flowers that were so gentle and delicate and beautiful that they calmed Shadow with their sweet scent carried on the wind and their gorgeous little lily shapes.

It was one of his favorite places in the world. In fact, anywhere that was beautiful like this and made the world so much more grand in his eyes he loved. He remembered a time back on the ARK, where Maria and he had spoken about going to earth one day to see just these kinds of things. Shadow had vowed to see them, so he could tell Maria all about them when he saw her again.

This is why he appreciated Sonic too. Sonic, having explored every nook and cranny he could of this world since he was born, knew of a lot of places like this. Shadow wouldn't mind a friendship if that meant Sonic would show the black hedgehog just where the wonderful sights of the world were hiding.

Suddenly there was a sharp pang that brought him up short and made every muscle in his being tense. The unmistakable pulsing of chaos energy. It buffeted against him, leaving his body warm, and he immediately turned to walk towards where he felt it was coming from. It was almost amusing that he came upon it laying in a patch of the flowers, wedged in between there tuberous roots, and sparkling in delight under the same moon the flowers were enjoying as well.

Shadow bent over to pick up the sapphire gem, immediately seeing blue eyes. Blue eyes that made him wince in pain. They haunted him, tore and ravished his heart, breaking him into little pieces.

Until those eyes were replaced with blue cobalt fur and a cocky grin…

Suddenly he didn't feel so broken anymore.

He eyed the gem for a long moment in curious silence, again feeling his emotions tumbling in circles, before he decided he should probably report his finding. He felt much better when he had direct objectives to focus on, rather than having nothing to do but sit and let his mind wander. Shadow lifted up the communication device he had been given by Tails, connecting to the Tornado immediately. "I found one. Heading back to the workshop now."

"Really!" Tails asked, excited.

"Sweet!" Came Sonic's voice too. Shadow hadn't expected him to be on. Tails must have been talking to Sonic when Shadow linked in, creating a three way conversation. He couldn't help but think it was ironic how good the timing was.

"I'm turning around so I can meet you there, Shadow," came Tails response.

"Pfft! I'll be waiting for both of yah!" The blue speedster challenge rather arrogantly.

Shadow blinked before smirking in slight amusement at this. "We'll just have to see about that."

"No cheating with chaos control now!" Shadow could almost imagine the blue blur's expression in his mind eye. Grinning and his emerald eyes flashing with excitement now that Shadow had openly invited himself into the race Sonic had silently challenged him with.

There was just something about challenges and Sonic that made it impossible not to respond to though.

"Fine. If you really don't want the handicap." Oh choas that was horrible. Shadow couldn't help but snort at himself for that. He was going to blame it on Sonic. Some how the blue hedgehog just knew how to pull the bad banter right out of him. Another thing that had no other explanation than there's just something about Sonic.

It didn't seem like Sonic minded just how bad Shadow's come back had been one bit though. In fact, he continued with what he was given. Which made Shadow almost smile. Keyword being _almost. _"Handicap? Heh! You'll be eatin' my dust!"

Shadow's response was quick, and equally as ridiculous as before. "The only one eating dust will be you!"

"Considering you two are not anywhere near each other, I don't think anyone will be eating anyone's dust…" Still, the fox that spoke (and this was unexpected to the ebony hedgehog since he had forgotten the fox was still there, blinked in surprise) sounded rather amused. "And besides, that banter's horrible. Eggman could do better!"

Sonic laughed. "Yeah, but that doesn't make it any less fun!"

Tails exasperated a sigh (still amused though) and then the communicator logged off before anyone else could say anything, successfully shattering all three links. Shadow guessed it was so he didn't have to listen to any more of, what he had to agree, was a really bad back and forth verbal tennis match.

It didn't deter the black hedgehog though. He smirked wildly at the new challenge and immediately accelerated into a powerful run towards where Tails' workshop was, running until he made it past the field of flowers before activating the chaos energy powered shoes so he didn't burn the poor things.

He couldn't wait to see how Sonic would react to seeing him get there first, because he couldn't wait for more banter and a rematch. Which again, the ultimate life form had no explanation for this other than there was just something about the blue hedgehog.

It was just… irresistible.


	10. Eggman Eliminated?

_Again, sorry if it get's confusing because there is a lot going on in this chapter_.

_I promise I'm gonna try and cut back on the amount of characters in each one, starting with Chapter 11, which will be mostly Sonic and Shadow. _

_Anyways, you know how it goes, read and review please! _

* * *

The wind whipped around his quills as he ran through the mystic ruins, red sneakers barely even touching the ground as he practically flew towards Tails' workshop. After all, he wanted to beat them both. It would be kind of embarrassing to issue the challenge and then be the last one to show up after all! And he could practically see the finish line in front of him. He put in the last burst of energy, going so fast he was nothing but a blue blur. No one would have been able to see him, but they certainly would have felt the strong gush of wind he produced when he passed by.

He quickly raced along the hills, past the train station and making tourists gasp as the wind buffeted them (one even lost his hat), and then leaped over the stairs impatiently so he could land at the workshop. The whole sequence had taken seconds, and the journey back to the workshop it's self had really only taken a minute or two. So, it was safe to say Sonic was pretty confident he had made it here first. He barely felt like he had run at all as it was, his legs tingling restlessly, and he wondered if he should go for another run while he waited for the others to show up to relieve it.

Imagine his shock when he walked around the corner and saw Shadow was already there. "WAH-!" Sonic blinked before his quills fluffed out like Jet's feathers when insulted, pointing at Shadow and looking absolutely mortified. Which quickly turned into anger. "You cheated!"

Currently, the ebony hedgehog was leaning against the workshop wall while tossing the emerald in the air and catching it again. His red eyes had been thoughtful and unfocused until Sonic came along, and now they were burning with both pride and arrogance. A smirk quickly took over tan lips, and he chuckled. "I told you to take the handicap, didn't I?"

Yeah, Sonic did think about some logical explanations. Like maybe Shadow had been closer to the workshop than he had, or maybe Shadow had already been heading back when he called Tails. The speedster still couldn't stand the thought that he had lost a _race _though. Speed was everything he lived for, and he strived to be the best. Sonic purposefully made a show of stretching his legs now. "Beginners luck. How about we go best two out of three?"

The black hedgehog barely even seemed to think about it. "That only applies if you actually win this time, Faker."

Sonic finished stretching and stood up with a grin. "I'm gonna make you eat those words!"

Shadow only snorted in response. "Where are we racing to this time?"

The blue speedster hardly missed a beat, since he had already been thinking about it once he mentioned a rematch. "Twinkle Park."

That was a pretty good run. Not only would the two of them have a long stretch of narrow railroad tracks to really test their speed, but they would also have to perform lot's of quick maneuvers to avoid buildings, cars, and people when they finally hopped off the tracks and headed for the city. The train took a good chunk of time to take passengers from one place to the other, but for Sonic and Shadow, the race would probably only last ten minutes at the most.

"I wonder if I have enough to enjoy a ride while I wait for you to show up," Shadow teased. The blue emerald he shuffled into his back quills for safe keeping, and then he lowered himself into a sprinters crouch.

The blue hedgehog scoffed as he copied the black hedgehog's movements beside of him. Witty banter was forgotten as the excitement of another race made the blue hedgehog almost fidgety with impatience. "Ready?" Sonic asked, casting Shadow a glance with emerald eyes that were positively electrifying.

"Set?" Shadow shot back, meant as both a tease and a warning that the black hedgehog was just as antsy to get the race started. His own ruby gems were bright and burning, dancing like an open flame.

Both hedgehogs seemed to simultaneously get lost in the other's gaze, a battle of will and spirit now raging between them. The air seemed to become alive as electricity and fire collided in a show of vibrant fireworks. Sonic felt his heart begin racing, and yet his feet hadn't started moving yet.

Neither of them noticed the sound of the Tornado returning. Nor did they hear the shout of Sonic's name coming from a little pink hedgehog off to the side. So lost in each other, that the world had faded. The whisper of a challenge still ringing in the air was the only thing that pulled both hedgehogs out of it.

"_GO!" _The shout was both sudden and united.

Shadow's shoes sprung to life, gushing a powerful flow of chaos energy. His acceleration was much more powerful than Sonic's. The blue hedgehog was gone a second later, his legs already pumping hard to try and match the ultimate life forms speed. They were perfectly matched by the time they reached the train station, and both forms disappeared down the tracks in a matter of seconds.

* * *

The gorilla robot finally smashed through the remaining trees, and before it stood one of the grandest of Eggman's structures. Raven eyed it with scrutiny. It wasn't anything special, just huge and with Eggman's face plastered all over it, making it obvious that it was his ship. She could see some of the rocket launchers hiding in it's sides, and maybe even a few torrents on it's back. In all reality nothing her specially designed Gorilla-bot couldn't handle.

Just to be safe though, she opened fire through her floating base's mouth, the dragon's metal jaw creaking and hissing as it opened up. Bullets rained down, and when they touched the mini rockets they caused little explosions from the ferocity of the impact. The torrents returned fire within moments, but by then her gorilla had reached the base and slammed it's huge metal fists into them. Raven watched with a smirk as the torrents went crashing into the forest.

Eggman didn't even have time to take off or really retaliate. The gorilla used it's weight to smash right into the hull and disappear into the ship. Raven had confidence that though she could not see her robot, that her robot was doing what it was designed to do flawlessly. She turned her attention to the screen beside her, typing in a few more commands before pressing enter.

Salt reappeared by her side, her metal coat glossy. Inside her torso sat a chaos emerald, and every few minutes it would pulse power and her metal would shine brilliantly. Raven had built her not only with the chaos emerald to give her incredible power and an invincible shield, but with self repairing nanobites and with much more powerful weapons. Even with the special laser she had developed, she liked to call the Pyro-Cannon.

There was just one thing missing.

The computer beeped suddenly, and out rolled a tiny syringe, filled with a thick purple liquid. Raven smirked and lifted it, watching it swish with a her eyes shining dangerously. Salt offered her arm and Raven opened up a small compartment to install it, popping it into place and letting Salt's engineered arm do the rest.

And by the time that was finished her gorilla had reappeared, holding something shiny in it's hands. The base below was blowing out black smoke from any opening in it's metal walls, and sometimes a white line of electricity whipped through it like lightening ripped across the sky. Her robot was unscratched of course, and it moved to a safe open spot to be retrieved by it's master.

Raven glanced behind her at Salt. "Be ready to be deployed. I will be dropping you off in about an hour."

Salt beeped acknowledgement. That meant recharge, go through battle statistics from the videos Raven had her study, and make sure every weapon was in working order. Soon she would be meeting the blue hedgehog, and she didn't want to fail her master.

Salt rolled away, while Raven carefully lowered her flying dragon fortress and opened the hatch for her gorilla to climb aboard. For those few moments she was vulnerable to attack, but if her robot had done it's job in eliminating Eggman, then she had no worry about such trivial things. She was back in the air and cloaked from radar again in moments. The emerald was deposited in a special tube by the entrance by the Gorilla-bot on it's way to it's charge station/holding compartment, and it was brought to Raven in the cockpit via a tube.

Raven laughed when she saw it's glittery brilliance, and almost felt like dancing in her chair. She knew better than to gloat before the fat woman sang though. Quickly she scooped up the gem and walked over to her container for them, locking it into place next to the other two shining emeralds.

"Just two more!" It came out of her mouth with such passion.

She sighed in awe at the emeralds radiance, before shutting the compartment and heading back to the controls. She typed in the next destination, Station Square, and then leaned back in her chair, relaxing.

The Dragon shaped base did a full one eighty before charging it's rocket boosters, setting the coordinates. It took off with a Sonic boom that could have rattled the clouds and the trees below, flying through the air like a fatal arrow flew towards an unsuspecting deer.

* * *

"Sonic…!" Amy cried. Too late though, the other hedgehog had already disappeared down the tracks. She had been so close…! Amy placed her hands on her hips and huffed in an irritated manner. "Why can't that hedgehog ever stay still long enough for me to catch him?"

By now the Tornado had landed. Tails leaped from the cockpit and used his name-sake to gently lower himself to the ground below. He had watched the whole event transpire from the air, and could only guess that Sonic had lost and somehow managed to get Shadow to agree to a rematch. "You know Sonic. He never stops moving unless he's asleep."

"Shadow was with him, wasn't he?"

The question was so pained that Tails looked at his friend with flattened ears. He didn't want to answer, because he knew it would only hurt Amy. Now doubt she was here because of the news blowing up about Sonic and Shadow's pretend relationship. In fact, it was practically the only thing talked about these days. And the little fox really hated that this would hurt her.

He doubted Sonic could really understand just how much.

Tails knew that Sonic had to have some inkling though, because the blue hedgehog was not heartless, and would never hurt Amy just because he could. Tails just didn't see how this was a good way to do this. Certainly just letting Amy down nicely would have been better. But, Sonic liked to do things he wasn't supposed to, it gave him that dangerous flare in life that he thrived on. This little scheme of his was just another example of that.

"I have to catch up to them!" Amy suddenly announced, her eyes burning with determination. "Tails! Can I use your Tornado?" She whirled around and implored the young fox with her passionate hope.

Could he really say no? Especially since Amy would probably get mad and attack him with her hammer and then take the plane herself anyway. Tails sighed, closing his eyes, before nodding in defeat. "Yeah, I'll come too…"

"Thank you so much, Tails!" Amy cried, leaping into the plane's passenger seat and already impatient to start moving.

Tails couldn't share the same enthusiasm though. He used his tails once again to fly up into the Tornado, and he started the engine. His ears were flattened, and it didn't seem like they would be perking up any time soon. He was pretty sure the confrontation between Amy, Sonic, and Shadow was looming in the near future, and that it wasn't going to end well.

Or clean.

* * *

"Come on, try it!"

Well, the race to Twinkle Park had ended in a tie. Which should have resulted in some kind of rematch, except Sonic's stomach had grumbled pretty loudly and cut the banter off short. Without even skipping a beat, he had grabbed Shadow's gloved hand and ran into the elevator of Twinkle Park. Since they were technically a couple according to most of the world, the both of them got in for free. And then Sonic raced to the first available chili dog stand and proceeded to order three of them.

Shadow watched the hero gulp down two of them as if they were nothing, appalled, before staring down at the one sitting on the plate in front of him. Currently they were sitting at a wooden bench, painted pink and glittery, under a heart shaped umbrella. People walking along the marble paths that surrounded the park squealed when they saw them together, while others giggled and whispered from the other benches around them.

This certainly did look like they were on a date, didn't it? Yet Shadow was probably the only one who knew that Sonic had dragged him in here for the simple fact that this was the quickest route to his favorite meal.

"Shads… I bought it for you. The least you could do is have one bite."

"Nice try, but it was on the house."

The ultimate life form eyed the fowl looking meal in front of him like it was a three eyed alien from another planet claiming to be his father. Shadow wondering just what in the world this was made of. It certainly didn't look healthy. And watching Sonic stuff it down his throat had pretty much made him want to gag, while simultaneously made him wonder how in the world Sonic didn't choke on them (he'd almost been tempted to ask the other if he wanted a shovel).

Tentatively, he reached up and poked it, causing Sonic to snort in amusement.

Shadow looked up, prepared with a snarl on his lips, when he stopped short. Sonic had leaned across the table towards him, eyes half lidded and sparkling with mischief, and his gloved hand reached out and gently laid across Shadow's own. Immediately Shadow realized Sonic was acting for the benefit of the people watching, and inwardly he face palmed.

And unsurprisingly those emerald eyes made his heart reluctantly skip a beat.

"Look, I'll even feed it to yah," Sonic teased. He took the chili dog in his free hand and held it up for the other. "Open up nice and wide~"

Yeah… Shadow felt his cheeks threaten to heat up. The blue hedgehog was telling him to open wide so he could shove a hot dog down his throat… how utterly humiliating.

"Get that away from me-hgk!" Shadow had turned his head away and closed his eyes, glaring and trying his best to sound as threatening as he could. He really shouldn't have opened his mouth though, because Sonic took the opportunity to shove the offending artifact in it as soon as Shadow's guard was down. Such a bold act of childishness begged for repercussion, but as it was Shadow was too busy choking on something he wasn't prepared to swallow, proceeded by coughing as the jalapeno's burned his mouth, throat, lips and made his eyes water.

"_FAKER_!" The shout was a death threat laced with pain.

Sonic sat back and laughed at the black hedgehog, swallowing the rest of Shadow's chili dog as though he was drinking a glass of water. "Guess not everyone appreciates the total deliciousness of a chili dog." This was followed by a nonchalant shrug.

Shadow punched his chest a couple of times to jump start his breathing, easily overcoming the burning sensation once he had calmed down enough. His glower never wavered though as he burned lasers through the others head. With people watching curiously, Shadow couldn't do what he really wanted, and that was lunge across the table and punch the other hedgehog right into last week.

The black hedgehog was beginning to realize, however, that perhaps he could use this situation to his advantage. So far Sonic had tripped him up, flustered him, and ultimately been the one in control of the situation since he had agreed to pretend date him. It was about time Shadow found his footing and flustered the younger hedgehog for once. He softened his features into a warm smile, and then took his turn reaching across the table. This time he took Sonic's face in his hands, glad to see the total shock in those emerald eyes for the bold action.

"You're eyes… they're so beautiful." Shadow took special care in lacing the sentence with as much "_passion" _as he could muster (though it probably came out as something a little more frustrated than love struck). Sonic bristled and sat frozen on the spot, and Shadow could feel some heat pouring into the gloves on his hand from a mortified blush.

Sonic, being the whirlwind that he was, wasn't frozen for long, but still, Shadow got the desired affect he had been going for. Even if what he said was rather random and ridiculous.

"_Shadow_…" Sonic whispered it, like the word it's self would break if he spoke too loud, letting his eyes fall to half mast. His emerald orbs became molten with feeling, and the blue hedgehog tilted his head into one of the black hedgehog's hands on his face. The black hedgehog was surprised at this for a moment, almost believing the others act because it had felt so _real. _Then he felt the twitch of the others lips into cocky grin against his glove.

Shadow started to consider nominating the hedgehog for an Oscar.

"I thought you didn't like PDA?" Sonic questioned, trying to sound confused and hopeful all at once.

The blue blur having caught on to Shadow's ploy had massacred his fun. Shadow let go of Sonic with a dismissive sigh and sat back on his seat again, disappointed. "Sometimes I just can't help myself," he replied, but it came out a bit more bored rather than apologetic.

It was extremely hard to ignore the bloody noses and the panting of the crowd that had gathered around them now, watching their every move. And it had better have been Shadow's imagination that he heard a shout of 'kiss him already!'


	11. DJ Got Us Falling in Love

_Sorry for taking soooo long! I've been really busy with outside work now that the weather has finally gotten better. Plus, I had to reorganize this story a little bit and remember where I was going with it. Anyways, Chapter 11 is finally here, and it's a 'bout time too huh? I hope you enjoy, and please remember to review if you like!  
_

* * *

Well, they were already here, so Sonic figured that they might as well enjoy it right? At least, that's what he figured they should do. In reality, they probably should get back out there and start rounding up those pesky chaos emeralds, but you know what? Even heroes needed a break sometimes! Including anti- ones!

"Come on Shadz!" Sonic took Shadow's hand and dragged him from the over decorated picnic table. Almost immediately all eyes were drawn to the sight, both because Sonic was holding someone's hand, which was a very rare thing to see indeed, and because that someone happened to be Shadow. The new couple had become the hottest thing talked about in the past week, so it was almost expected that when Sonic and Shadow walked into the room, they became the beacon of (sometimes unwanted) attention.

Especially the person in charge of dart throwing booth, who was practically leaping up and down while trying to flag them over. Thankfully, most people were either to uneasy about approaching the ebony hedgehog that had tried to destroy the world, or were to bashful and preferred to simply observe and silently squeal in fan girl wonder on the boy-love-tastic couple. In any case, Sonic was not immediately swamped with adoring fans, and was even able to drag Shadow effortlessly through the crowd and towards that very same dart game.

When the blue hedgehog got there, the teenager smiled goofily and handed the other a whole cup worth. "The games on me!" It was a great ploy, because now people were watching, and would most likely come play as well. Of course, Sonic wasn't one to catch on to those kinds of this, and honestly who would when told they could play and it was for free? He figured he got it for saving the city like a hundred times, which was totally just something he did because he was being a nice guy. But hey, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

Besides, if this was how the public wanted to show their thanks, then Sonic figured he would be being rude by _not _accepting it.

"Hey! Betcha I can hit more balloons than yah!" Sonic turned a smirk to his doppelganger.

Shadow's ruby eyes turned towards Sonic and flashed dangerously. "I _bet_ you just bit off more than you can chew, Faker."

"I've got a big mouth!" Sonic countered without really thinking.

Sonic was expecting some kind of comeback, but all he got was a snort and a shake of the head from his double. Sonic blinked, confused, at least until what he actually said made it's self clear with a mental slap to the back of his head.

Ah right… Sonic felt some heat under the fur on his cheeks. "Shut up!"

"I didn't say anything," Shadow replied innocently, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in a relaxed manner.

Sonic tightened his fists at his sides, pride successfully damaged to the point of no return. He whirled around, growling and even more determined to beat Shadow in the dart throwing game (as undeserved revenge no doubt). The blue hedgehog picked up one of the darts in his cup and quickly whipped it towards the board.

Still silently fuming, the annoyance he felt found it's way into the movement of throwing the dart, and that happened to be a lot harder than necessary. Without proper care to aim, the dart missed all the balloons completely. It landed in the cork between a brightly colored pink and blue one, which was actually probably very unlikely. After all, with a huge wall full of balloons, what were the chances it would land in the space between two?

Shadow snickered, picked up his own dart (which the boy had placed a cup down while Sonic had been insulting himself), and seconds later there was a loud _pop! _Yellow pieces of latex fluttered to the ground after, leaving the dart stuck in the cork.

"Tch!" Sonic picked up another and actually tried to be patient and aim. When it bounced off a balloon because it hit it side on though, the blue hedgehog seemed to loose whatever he had gathered up for some fragile composure. "That wasn't even legal!"

Another _pop. _The balloon piece fell, along with the first dart Sonic had thrown, released from the cork by the vibrations of Shadow's strong throws and deadly aiming.

Scowling, Sonic tried again. This time it fell short an he felt his eye twitching.

A scoff and another loud _pop _were the perfect ingredients for the tiny mushroom cloud that went off inside of the blue speedster. Furious, he shoved the cup aside and then crossed his arms, turning away from Shadow and the teenager behind the booth with a pout. "This game is stupid! Whoever invented it must have gotten their ideas from Egghead!"

At first Sonic's outburst was followed by silence, then _pops _started going off like firecrackers. Sonic whipped around and saw that Shadow had thrown all the darts in moments, and each one of them had made their mark. Flabbergasted, he stared in shock, while the teenager behind the counter started babbling on about how Shadow had been amazing and that was just so cool (and deadly with a slight gulp).

Sonic snapped back to himself when Shadow was offered a pink teddy holding a heart.

"No. I want that blue one," Shadow pointed, refusing to even look at the bear that was handed to him.

The teenager nodded at once and switched the toys (probably scared the Dart Demon would spite him if he didn't obey). After successfully trading the prizes, the teen turned and started excitedly calling more guests to play. The people who had watched Sonic and Shadow with their undivided attention quickly headed over, along with a few others who had noticed the hedgie's playing, but had only watched with some interest from far away. The booth got pretty full really fast, so Sonic and Shadow moved away from it so they wouldn't be in the way, despite how badly Sonic was itching for a rematch.

Once they were safe from the crowd, Shadow thrust the teddy bear towards Sonic with a grunt. "Here."

Sonic blinked at it for a moment, and then suddenly broke out into a teasing grin as he accepted it. "Did you win this for lil' ol' me? Aw! You shouldn't have~!"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Think what you want."

The blue speedster looked down at the bear. It was rather cute, with it's button nose and little button eyes. And it was soft looking as well, something a child would really enjoy hugging until it's eyes popped out of it's stuffing. Sonic had no idea what he was going to do with it, maybe give it to Cream or Charmy (minus the heart if it went to the bee, however).

Something was bothering him about it though. Emerald orbs glanced up and gave Shadow the curious glance much more fitting for a cat than a hedgehog, while he wrapped his arms a bit protectively around the bear, carrying it much like a child would (Sonic didn't know how else to carry it though, considering holding it by it's hands would probably leave it dragging on the ground, and he certainly couldn't give anyone a soiled toy!). "Why didn't you want the pink one?"

"I like the color blue better."

The answer was so sudden, so blunt. Sonic felt his heart skip a beat in a way that was both foreign and shocking. The heat was burning his cheeks like before, but this time he wasn't angry. "Oh…"

Silence stretched around them for a time, until the next gentlemen at the booth beside the dart throwing game started waving his arms frantically. Figuring if having Sonic and Shadow come to one booth made for great advertisement for the dart game, than maybe having Sonic and Shadow come to his ring tossing game would be just as effective.

It interrupted some of the slight embarrassed tension that had swirled around the hedgehogs.

Shadow seemed so indifferent to it. Walking with a bored expression on his face, addressing Sonic without really looking over at the blue speedster. "Wanna try it?"

Sonic startled from the question, before his ears twitched in interest. "The game?"

Shadow's ruby eyes turned towards the other, waiting expectantly for his reply.

"Heh! If you're payin'!" The embarrassed air disappeared as Sonic's lips spread out into a large smirk. Then he zipped off towards the booth, making sure to save a seat for the oversized teddy bear while the man behind the booth started selling the hedgehog some mumbo jumbo before handing over the rings to toss.

The ebony hedgehog smirked at his counterparts more childlike behavior, following a bit more slowly.

* * *

It was after the two hedgehogs had been suckered into every game to be played at the carnival (and Sonic had to give away all the animals he won/gave to Shadow since he couldn't carry them all and Shadow refused to carry his) Sonic realized quite idly that he hadn't heard the black hedgehog laugh ever since he met him, unless one counted evil maniacal ones or a chuckle of smugness. He wanted a true laugh, from happiness, just so he knew what it sounded like. And he was at least sixty percent sure that a puppy or a kitten wouldn't drop dead if Shadow managed it.

So Sonic tried his hardest, dragging Shadow to every ride that there was. Down to the Twinkle Cart course and raced him, took him to the Falling Fast roller coaster, made the corniest jokes he could, and almost anything else he could think of that made him laugh and/or holler in joy. Though he got mild amusement, he never once succeeded in making the other laugh. He got pretty close though when both hedgehogs looked at the picture taken just before the biggest drop of the Heart Breaker.

Of course, that was only because the ride was dropping into water and Sonic had practically screamed like a little girl… so not cool.

The blue hedgehog had all but given up this quest by now, but that did not deter him from enjoying the park and Shadow's company. By the time the sun started to go down, all the rides had been ridden, all the food had been tested (at least eight times because Sonic was a bottomless pit), and all the carnival style games had been played. The only thing left to do was check out before the two hedgehogs left for home was the game room the park had next to the mini golf course and the Tunnel o' Love (which they were _not_ going on. One ride that involved water was enough for Sonic today, thank you very much).

The game room also happened to be where sounds of excited hollering reached blue ears, and they perked in curiosity. Something must be happening, or someone was doing so well on one of the games that they had a crowd of people waiting around and watching them.

Sonic turned to Shadow, smirking in excitement. The other hedgehog had looked lost and thoughtful through most of the day, but never enough to not focus on Sonic when he spoke or moved a certain way, or when required too during a ride. So, Sonic never really got concerned enough to ask. Then again, Sonic was a hedgehog who liked privacy, and if the black hedgehog did not want to tell him what he was thinking, than Sonic wouldn't press the other with questions.

"Whaddyah say we check it out?"

"Hm?" Shadow cast a glance at the game room. For a moment he seemed to think about it, before shrugging in a noncommittal way.

"Great!" Sonic, for the umpteenth time that day, grabbed Shadow's hand and started dragging him along towards it.

With his agility, he made it past the crowd easily, and came upon a very interesting sight indeed. There was a new game. It was flashy, pink and red and a little girly, but it had awesome decked out speakers and it was pouring out the language of a good tune. Sonic let out a whistle in awe as he watched the person on the matt in front of him, following the figure in the screen with his hands and moving his feet to the steps at the same time.

"It's a dancing game!" Sonic shouted towards the ebony hedgehog over the noise.

Shadow grunted in response.

The person finished, sweaty and exhausted, but grinning none the less. When he stepped off, Sonic revved his feet to be the next one up. The crowd went absolutely bonkers when they saw who it was, and the blue hedgehog flashed them a grin before turning to the choices. Sonic didn't even have to supply tokens for himself to play, because apparently, when Sonic stepped up to the plate, the crowd paid for him.

And of course, Sonic was going to pick the hardest song there was.

The blue speedster placed the teddy bear, the blue one Shadow had won for him first and the only toy Sonic was actually planning on keeping (don't get any funny ideas! He was totally gonna give it to Cream), on the left side of the machine and out of the way before turning to look over at his doppelganger. "Shadz, gonna join me?"

"No."

"Aw… come on, faker! Just this game and then we'll go home!"

"I said no."

Sonic used the pout maneuver on Shadow. "But… It's gonna be fun!"

It wasn't very effective. "What don't you understand about no?"

So, it was time to change tactics. Sonic gave Shadow a sly grin. "You're right to sit out I guess, considering I would have won anyway. Best to save yourself the humiliation!"

Suddenly, and predictably, Shadow's indifference became a scowl and he launched himself on to the second matt beside the blue hedgehog, his mind officially changed. "Don't cry to me when you loose."

Of course, Sonic got what he wanted in the end. "Heh!"

The timer was up for making a choice in music, and a song started to blast out of the speakers. A nice beat, that was fast in tempo. Just the way Sonic liked his songs, if they weren't filled with awesome guitar solo's anyway. It was almost immediately that the figure on the screen made movements for them to copy, while at the same time the arrows scrolled down the was easy to read for both supersonic hedgehogs.

Sonic felt himself flow into the steps of the song like it was second nature, his stream line and muscular body used to the flexible angles he forced his body into when fighting Eggman, or when he was running wildly and had to perform some funky move to stop himself from whacking himself in the face with a low hanging branch.

Shadow kept up, but he was also trying to watch Sonic too, amazed. The moves the other hedgehog made were graceful, almost beautiful. Shadow knew that though he could keep up with the blue hedgehog, and could probably out do whatever challenges the blue blur approached him with, he would never be able to out _dance _the other.

Sonic… his whole life was based on _movement _alone. His sneakers moved through the steps as easily as a bird took flight into the air. This game was based on movement; the kind of game where Sonic probably felt most at home playing. Well, maybe not all of it. Like the fact that the other hedgehog was an adrenaline junkie, and played pranks on others until they wanted to rip their ears off, had a lot to do with what Sonic loved too.

But being able to run- no, being able to _move. _That was what Sonic cared about the most.

The lights were going crazy around the machine as the combo's kept piling up.

One would think the two hedgehogs were so focused on the screen and trying to outdo each other that they couldn't focus on anything else. This was untrue though. As Shadow watched Sonic, mesmerized by just how his movements seemed to flow into each other like water flowed over rocks, Sonic was intrigued with the dynamics of Shadow's movements.

He was a bit awkward perhaps, but not stiff or forced. Those muscles that quivered with every movement he made definitely spoke of incredible power. Now, Sonic wasn't a weakling himself, but he had seen it first hand how bad a Shadow punch could be, and he had to admit it probably hurt more than one of his own.

Shadow was just used to using the environment around him and his chaos blasts or spears to help with his fighting, instead of how Sonic used his very speed to do the job. Meaning that movement wasn't exactly Shadow's forte (Sonic could imagine the shoe's Shadow was wearing were probably awkward when they weren't using chaos energy to float) but _power_.

It really should be obvious with his constant prattling about being the ultimate life form and all that, but Shadow could actually back up that arrogant statement.

It was inevitable with the two hedgehog's idly eyeing the other, that their eyes happened to meet.

This should have been where witty banter erupted, and there should have been a smirk and some challenges issued. Yet, none of what should have happened happened. Instead the world began to dim, both emerald and ruby getting lost in a slow explosion of a tornado meeting a volcano.

To Shadow it felt like chaos control, where the world had slowed down and was moving slowly, blurry and unfocused while he remained the same.

Was it corny to say he wanted to get lost in that beautiful shade of green forever? Was he mistaken when it felt like his heart had skipped a beat?

Suddenly the song picked up and the moment passed.

Sonic's legs were begging him to do something absolutely insane, restless all of a sudden, like they weren't moving as fast as his heart was in his chest.

Now he was off like a rocket, moving his body and feet in ways that were just impossible to keep track of. Yet still, Sonic hit every arrow, and made every right movement. The crowd was going crazy, and flashes of lights other than the machine exploded around them, and the shuttering of many camera's going off at once could be heard.

Shadow was stuck watching the other, admiring every muscle that tightened and twisted, loving the way the other's eyes twinkled with absolute delight. If he hadn't been a super sonic hedgehog himself, he probably wouldn't have been able to dance he was so infatuated with Sonic's display of expertise.

Sonic twirled and resumed the normal steps when the song went back into a normal tempo, hardly even breaking a sweat, and throwing a smirk over at the shocked ebony hedgehog beside him.

Shadow blinked, and then he smirked. "Show off."

Both hedgehog's found their steps to be in sync now, perfectly timed. Sonic noticed this, noticed how well Shadow was keeping up with him, noticed just how bright those ruby eyes were burning. He was beginning to realize that just because Shadow didn't laugh, didn't meant he wasn't happy; and that he was just as infatuated with how bright those eyes were, as Shadow had been with his dancing.

Both hit the same notes, and threw their bodies into the same motions at the same time. Almost like they were one being.

It probably looked a little strange, but that didn't mean it wasn't exciting to watch. Sonic with his graceful and quiet movements, and Shadow with his bold and loud movements, coming together simultaneously. They were so different from each other, but equally as powerful. And they kind of worked together too, as strange as an idea as that might seem.

Not like they were meant to be, but more like they could be. If combined and used correctly, like a concoction in a scientific flask. With the right careful precautions taken into account, one could compliment the other to create something new that was both beautiful and explosive.

The song came to a close and the crowd went absolutely wild as Sonic and Shadow both took an ending position as different as their dancing had been.

They didn't even seem to notice the noise or the clapping though. Sonic stood up and looked at Shadow with an expression that was hard to read, eyes twinkling and yet shadowed with something that was hard to place. He was panting, his heart racing more than the amount of crazy steps he made on the dance machine should have made it.

That was okay, because Shadow knew he wore the same expression, and that his heart was racing too. He took a step towards Sonic, surprised when he was met with the same gesture. He knew then that the desire he felt pushing up through his chest was accepted, and that if he reached out Sonic would come to him.

It was like… they were still united even after the song was over. He could tell Sonic felt the same desire, could feel the other inside of himself, could almost hear the blue hedgehogs thoughts in his head. Confused, excited, chest bubbling like a bottle of champagne had just been poured on their heart.

Then some little girl came between them with a pen and a picture of the smiling hero, and the moment was gone.

Shadow turned away with some embarrassment, but feeling frustrated too. He really had wanted to come to terms with what he was feeling, and try to understand why he felt this way. While Sonic, embarrassed as well, quickly recovered and then gave the girl the autograph she wanted.

Shadow watched how this opened the door to more people pouring on to the blue hedgehog, feeling something bitter rise in his throat. He realized with some shock that he was jealous, not of the attention Sonic was getting, but of the attention Sonic was giving to his loving fans.

Like usual, however, Sonic could only take so much before feeling trapped. The ebony hedgehog felt his hand grabbed tightly and his shoulders sagged in relief, allowing Sonic to take the lead and race them out of the arcade.

The adoring fans tried chasing after them, but it was too late. Sonic and Shadow had already disappeared.


End file.
